A LongLost Past And A Newfound Future
by TemptingEternity13
Summary: What happens when two siblings with no past end up in the ME universe? While one is strong and kind, the other...well, the other might as well be Krogan. But Will they join Shepard in time or lose themselves in their new home? Rated M for just in case.
1. Project 66

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything! well, except for my own characters...**

**A/N: This is my first SI (that I'm sharing) so please relatively patient as i move along, eh? I've got plenty up my sleeve, but for now, let's enjoy the opening of the story...  
><strong>

Shrouded Past, Uncertain Future

"Ankou, hurry up with those parts!" I called, facing The Project. I was leaning over the machine, trying to prevent an overload. The alarms were ringing loudly and the entire area was on lock down. Ankou hurried in, carrying a toolbox and sprinting over to me.

"Quiet, Crusnik!" he yelled over the blaring alarms, setting down the box and opening it. I gritted my teeth as the large machine went critical. Rumbling shook the ground at our feet and caused the chairs to fall over. He opened the box and withdrew an energy suppressor, holding it to the core. I attempted to open the core's control panel but failed.

"Give me a wrench!" I screamed to Ankou as he latched on the suppressor. He nodded quickly and turned back to the box. He withdrew the wrench a second later, then tossed it to me on the other side of the machine. Prying open the panel finally, I reached the wires inside. He ran over and noticed what I was planning already.

"You can't! We're too close, we can save Project 66!" he gripped my shoulders tightly, staring at me intensely. I took his wrists and pried them of with difficulty.

"Either I set the shut down sequence or we all die!" I reasoned, staring him down."I know it's taken us years to get this far, but if we die, will it ever happen?" I inquired, already turning back to the panel. He cursed silently but moved to my side, in front of the panel.

"Fine, just hurry up!" without another word, I fixed the wires into a tight grip and pulled.

Suddenly, the alarm ceased. The red lights faded back to white and the rumbling stopped. We both breathed a sigh of relief and leaned against the machine.

"At least it didn't blow up…" Ankou muttered. Instantly, the rumbling returned, ten-fold. The lights blinked, again flickering an angry red. We looked to each other, my gaze filled with anger, his with surprise.

"Idiot! Never jinx something that will most _certainly_ bite you in the ass!" I screamed, waving my hands around for emphasis. He turned back to the panel, ignoring my outburst. As he checked the wires quickly, I watched the status screen. The only message appearing on it was; _"Imminent breach- evacuate facility."_

"For the love of…" I sighed, punching the evacuation sequence in to the console. Ankou called me over then. He looked utterly confused as he held up one of the wires I'd pulled from the machine earlier. I jogged up to him, looking at the wire.

"What is that?" I asked, unfamiliar with the coding imprinted along it. He looked at me almost incredulously, then examined the wire again.

"I thought you'd know…" he said, handing it to me. I took it and looked closer.

Shaking my head slowly, I dropped the piece onto a table. Rushing back to the core, I tried to see the interior. All I could see was a glowing orb that rotated slowly, almost deliberately. I wasn't familiar with it, whatever it was. Ankou joined me and tried to pull me away toward the exit. But, with no such luck, I felt him let go.

I stuck my hand in to the narrow space of the generator, reaching for the orb. If this was what was causing the breach, I needed to remove it quickly. I finally got to the orb with my hand, but as I touched it, it glowed brightly, blinding me. After a second or two, I felt it envelope my hand, the mercury-like substance cool to the touch. I stared at it in wonder as it slowly seeped into my skin seamlessly.

Seconds later, it had been completely absorbed and I pulled back. I felt as if my mind had shut down somehow, almost as if on standby mode. I looked at Ankou as he watched the scene play out and frowned.

"What was that?" he asked, pointing at my hand. I shook my head and turned to the door. But, before I could take one step, another, brighter light engulfed the both of us as we grabbed each other for balance.

Then, there was nothing.

...

Slowly, conscious thought returned, along with pain. I felt as if my body had just been burned, torn, bludgeoned, then impaled. Everywhere. My head throbbed in such unbelievable pain, I was worried half of my skull had been crushed. I groaned loudly, slowly opening my eyes to assess the situation.

_Am I dead…?_ I thought, struggling to get up. I looked down at myself and gaped in surprise. I was seeing myself, but the outfit was all wrong. When I'd been engulfed by the light, I was wearing my regular BDUs, not… not armor! What was this stuff…? It felt really comfortable and light, but it still looked to be heavy armor of some kind. It was futuristic and everything, but this kind of stuff didn't exist…

Slowly, I stood and looked around me. I was in a well-lit hallway with two doors on either side, and as I turned around, I saw another. Somehow, this all looked extremely familiar, yet I couldn't place where I'd seen this before.

"Where am I…?" I muttered to myself absently. Wherever I was, I might as well have had a look around anyway, so I headed to the far door at the end of the hallway.

As I neared the door, I saw it had a green panel on it, like the ones from Mass Effect. I looked around again hoping to see if my brother, Ankou, had made it here as well. Wherever here was…

"Goddammit..!" I heard the gravelly tone emanate from behind a couple of crates a few feet away. I walked over to peer over the crates, catching sight of Ankou. At least I wasn't alone…

"You okay bro?" he jumped at the sound of my smug voice. He turned around and as he saw me, he relaxed. I noticed his face was contorted in pain a little as he stood. He was wearing the same armor I was too, I noticed, as I gave him a once over. Neither of us were injured, so at least there was a silver lining of some kind. Of course, if we somehow ended up dying from Project 66's massive detonation, it probably didn't matter anyway. I didn't see how we could've survived the explosion, but that left a simple question; where were we?

And that orb thing. Whatever it was, it had somehow reacted to my presence and integrated itself to my body. I hadn't felt any pain as it had happened, but I experienced an odd feeling when it finished. It was as if an empty piece of… _me_, I guess, had been filled. I only hoped there wouldn't be any side effects.

"-ik… Crusnik! Hello, anyone in there?" Ankou waved his hand in front of me, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Yeah?" he sighed heavily, running a hand through his long white hair. It reached between his shoulder blades, having no split ends, but he regularly kept it pulled back. His hair always made me wonder too. It was completely natural, but he was only twenty-five. I was twenty-six with naturally auburn hair, cut short. I know, it was switched oddly, me being the sister.

"I asked what the plan was!" his crimson eyes flashed in annoyance at my absent-mindedness.

"Well, I think we should check this place out." I said. He nodded, as expressionless as usual.

Usually, people would assume we were glaring at them or just plain scowling, but they were natural expressions. It ran in the family anyway, so that being the case, my brother and I were naturally deep. Well, I was anyway. My brother on the other hand just loved killing things, talking about killing things, thinking of ways to kill things…you get the idea. Of course, we both had extremely dark humors.

I don't mean dark as in shadowy dark either. I mean dark as in so pitch black light doesn't exist dark. But we weren't evil or psychotic…well, maybe a _tad_ psychotic, but not evil. I wasn't anyway. It was always hard to tell with Ankou. We just didn't _feel._ Emotion didn't truly exist in our minds or hearts. We didn't really understand what love was or even just happiness. But both of us did understand right from wrong. I held that understanding highly.

"Alright, but… what is this place exactly?" he seemed even more lost than I was, but didn't seem to mind the whole situation. Truthfully, I thought it was slightly exciting. Better than working on trans-dimensional algorithms in a constantly life-threatening top secret radioactive lab all day, anyway.

"I'm not sure, but…" I looked around in the hallway once more. There was a nagging feeling in the back of my head as if I'd forgotten something. Odd.

"I feel like it's familiar somehow…"

He only shrugged in response, indicating he was at a loss. I was the only one who had higher than average memory too, so the fact I was forgetting something bothered me. We walked towards the door I had approached earlier.

I touched it and, as it slid open, I went to go through. But the next thing I knew, I was on the floor again. Apparently, someone was in a rush and slammed into me as they ran through the entrance.

I groaned again and looked down to see what hit me. But what I saw must've been a hallucination of some sort…right? There had to be a mistake. But, even as I said that to myself, my eyes weren't lying.

There, on my chest, laid a young blue woman with, instead of hair, little tentacles. They were kind of cute in a way. But that had to mean that this woman was…

_An asari…?_ the fleeting thought dissipated as she moaned in pain, sitting up to straddle my hips. One of her hands rubbed her forehead, most likely hurt from hitting the armor, while the other held her up as it rested on my chest. Ankou just stood there like a statue, shocked apparently, beyond words.

"Ow…" she mumbled, eyes closed. Apparently, she hadn't registered our presence yet.

"Um…You okay?" I asked, immediately getting her attention. Her eyes snapped open and gazed down at me in shock. She stumbled over her sentence, not really making sense, when I held up a hand to stop her.

"Look, as much as I love being pinned down and sat on by a complete stranger, I…" I intentionally trailed off, knowing she'd catch my drift. When she just stared at me blankly, as if waiting for me to complete my sentence, I actually chuckled a little. "Could I get up please?" I asked, smirking. Her eyes suddenly widened as she scrambled to get off of me. This day was already ridiculous…

"Oh Goddess! I'm so sorry!" She finally managed to stand up once more. She held out her hand and I took it. As she pulled me up, I felt several cracks in my spine and shoulders. She seemed concerned at the loud noises, but I just stretched. "Once again, I must apologize for hurtling myself at you like that…" she trailed off looking away with an ashamed face. I glanced at Ankou but he wouldn't be of any help quite yet.

"Really, it's fine. You okay?" I asked, gently holding her face as I inspected her forehead. It didn't seem too bad, but it could still hurt. I saw her blush when I did this, but she stayed still. I let go after a second and took a small step back. She just smiled and shook her head.

"I'm uninjured. After all, I did have someone to break my fall…" she chuckled. Then, she held out her hand so I took it and shook.

"I am Vira. Vira Shaena." she said, smiling.

"Nice to meet you. Call me Crusnik." was my response. I gestured to my brother beside me. "This is Ankou." he finally shook off the initial surprise and shook her hand. He didn't say anything, only nodded.

Vira seemed a little confused at our names but didn't comment. She was about as tall as I was, making her five-foot-eleven. Ankou was the same as me too.

"It is wonderful meeting you two, but it seems you are lost?" she quirked an eyebrow at me with a small smile. I hadn't realized, but if she was an asari, then we were in the universe of Mass Effect. That meant we would need to somehow get to Shepard and join his or her crew. Yet that rose another question; the date.

"I suppose we may be…I don't remember how we got here." I scratched my head, trying to soothe the headache. Ankou nodded and crossed his arms.

"I don't remember either. Where is here, anyway?" he asked. Vira seemed slightly taken aback by our memory loss, but perhaps even more so at our lack of present knowledge.

"This is the Citadel. How is it you have not recognized it?" her curiosity was unexpected, but it seemed genuine. _So much for being in a rush, _I thought, frowning.

"Honestly, we only just woke up." Ankou scoffed at my polite answer, catching mine and Vira's attention.

"Yeah, literally five minutes ago. In this hallway. We were about to leave when you ran over my sister here." his attitude was a cover for whatever he may have been feeling, but plenty could've contributed to his sour mood. Some of it being Project 66's overload, our waking up in Mass Effect, the damn pain and a random asari tackling me to the ground. Oddly enough, I felt little conflict to the recent events.

"Please excuse my brother, he's not really feeling well." I said, before she could respond to his comment. Really, she just seemed embarrassed that that had happened. She nodded, looking thoughtful.

"Well, where do you come from? I can help you get back, I'm a Spectre." she said, after thinking on it for a bit. I hadn't known she was a Spectre, not to mention the offer threw me slightly. What was I to say? That my brother and I somehow came from an alternate universe, set in the past, after exploding and magically changing clothes? Horrible idea.

"We don't come from anywhere anymore…" I muttered, telling a 98% truth.

We were from that time and such, but our organization was so secret, we didn't exist. Even our birth certificates had been eradicated. That was the reason for our names, too. They weren't what we were originally called, but Ankou and I had lost all memory from before the time we ended up working on Project 66. We only knew we were related from being told our DNA had matched for the most part, making us siblings.

"What do you mean?" at her question, I had an idea.

"We lived in the colony of Mindoir before it was attacked by slavers. We were the only ones left…" I saw Vira's hands clench in to fists as I spoke, but she stayed silent.

"Let's go. I'll take you two to the human embassy." at that, she headed to a door at the other end of the hallway.

...

As soon as we had gotten to the embassy, Udina magically appeared, irritable as usual. He sure looked a lot more like an asshole than he did in the game. Soon, he proved it to be true by insulting my brother and I with veiled threats as he checked our backgrounds. It was the year 2177. Plenty of time to plan out what would happen in the next few years, along with setting up relative identities, seeing as how we didn't exist.

Udina set us up with Ids, apparently not caring of our situation. It worked for me, so who was I to complain? After all of that, Vira took us to our new home, which also happened to be hers. It was in the presidium too, so you could imagine how lavish it was. Luckily, it had four bedrooms meaning we'd sleep in non-shared beds.

As Vira bid us goodnight and practically tucked me in after stripping me of my mysterious armor (she didn't even recognize it), I fell into a comfortable sleep.

**A/N: So, you like? I'll update at least once a week, I hate waiting. Please review!  
><strong>


	2. A New Beginning

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect or any of its characters. They Belong to Bioware and EA.**_

_**A/N: So, chapter 2. Let's see what happens! Anyway, let's get right on it!**_

_A New Beginning_

I yawned as I inspected my new armor. It's primary finish was garnet while the secondary was white. An odd mix, yet they fit together well. I remembered Ankou's being black with a red secondary. I was content in not matching with him, as I was sure he felt the same. Oddly enough, as we had left the hallway yesterday with Vira, I found a backpack on the ground with all of my belongings in it. Ankou had carried it, so I'd forgotten about it until he dropped it in late last night. I glanced at the holographic clock on the desk by my new bed. Eight thirty, huh? I stood and exited the room, heading to my brother's next door.

He was laying in bed, seemingly comfortable, when I entered. He never was a light or heavy sleeper, but he could certainly fall asleep pretty much anywhere, unlike me. Fortunately, neither of us snored when we slept. It was just my luck that I was an insomniac. I'd always had a hard time sleeping, but after a while, you learn to use it to your advantage. It may have been one of the reasons I was able to grow so advanced as I worked on P-66. I approached Ankou, still sleeping, and gripped his shoulder. As I turned him over on to his back, he awoke slowly.

"It's time to get up." I said it simply, knowing he'd comply and left before he could yell at me. I never understood why he got so grumpy in the mornings, or hell, even during the day. To each his own, I suppose. As I entered what looked like a kitchen, I noticed Vira sitting at the table, eating… something. It looked like a mix in between calamari and mutant chicken. She looked up as I entered and nodded.

"Good morning. Food's on the counter." she jerked her head to the kitchen counter, indicating plates of ready food. It was the same stuff Vira was already eating. I grabbed one of the plates and sat down at the table, across from her. Examining the food, I realized there were little tentacle things, almost like a squid pasta.

_You've eaten worse before…_ I thought to my self, holding what closely resembled a fork. It didn't smell too bad, and I hadn't eaten in about two days, given what has happened recently.

"Something wrong?" I looked up at Vira and shook my head. She went back to her food as I took the fork and started to dig in. Fortunately, I actually enjoyed the alien dish. It tasted like high-quality calamari, but had a twist to it. A new spice or something, most likely an asari recipe. A minute or two later, Ankou walked in, wearing only his underarmour boxers. Vira's eyes slightly widened in surprise while I choked on a bite of my food. I was wearing a white shirt that had been under my armor and a pair of shorts, also from under my armor.

"What?" he asked innocently, going straight to the food on the counter.

"Why is it that you never wear clothes? Have you forgotten how to put them on?" I added slight sarcasm to my voice, watching him sit down. Vira was just staring at the two of us, apparently entertained. Ankou looked at me as if I were insane, already inhaling the food.

"I don't feel like wearing them around the house. It's not like I care." he shrugged, completely ignorant of Vira's presence.

"Do you not realize where you are? This isn't the facility!" at my annoyed voice, he stopped eating. As he looked around, I noticed he finally remembered the events of yesterday.

"Oh, right…" he looked down at his food, shrugged, then kept eating. I sighed quietly then finished my food.

...

"Why do we need more clothes? We only need our armor." Ankou never really understood the casual side of whatever life we had, seeing as how all he ever wore were his uniform or just his boxers. We were at one of the attire stores, picking up more outfits with Vira. She had insisted on helping us out, but I never felt right taking someone else's charity. Either way, I wasn't going to get out of it.

"Be quiet, you're annoying me." I stated, holding a few bags for Vira. She said she'd needed more stuff to replace old clothes anyway, so it ultimately forced me in to "escorting" her around the presidium. I didn't really care, but Ankou's complaining was getting to me.

"Shut up." he glared at me, obviously displeased with my answer.

"Perhaps you would be wise in taking your own advice." I always had been the sarcastic smart-ass of the two of us. Of course, this only served to irritate him further. Luckily, he only huffed and stayed quiet. Vira walked up to us then, evidently finished.

"Alright, let's get back to the apartment, she's almost home." that got my attention.

"She?"

"My cousin, she's come to visit." she clarified, already heading back in the apartment's direction.

...

We all sat in the living room, waiting for the new arrival. Apparently, Vira's cousin was visiting for some R&R from her daily life of archeology. I found it slightly ironic that the aforementioned cousin was an expert specializing in the field of protheans. It reminded me of Liara, but it was impossible it was her…right?

There was a knock beep at the door, indicating the cousin was here. Vira told us to stay put as she went to answer the door. I could hear faint greetings and such while Ankou and I waited. My brother wasn't entirely interested in the happenings so far other than being happy that we weren't back at the facility. That place was nothing like a home should've been. At least, that's what I've heard, seeing as how I had no memory from before the project.

I looked up as I heard Vira and her cousin approaching. As they rounded the corner, I finally caught sight of-

_No…_

"Well you two, this is my cousin. Her name is Liara T'Soni." I had done a double take when they walked in. Sure enough, Liara was standing there, looking nervous as ever with a bag, undoubtedly for her belongings. She looked really pretty in actuality, versus her avatar from the game. She smiled at us a little nervously, but seemed happy too.

"Nice to meet you two." Liara said, watching me stand up. Ankou seemed as shocked as I felt, especially since we hadn't expected to see her until Shepard came along. I went up to her and bowed my head slightly in greeting.

"Nice to meet you too. I am Crusnik." I gestured to Ankou, seeing that he wasn't the type for pleasantries. Nor was I, though manners were normally appreciated. "This is my brother, Ankou." he nodded to her as he stood. She seemed intrigued by our names as Vira had been, but it was much more obvious.

"She'll be with us for the next few months or so while she finds her next lead." Vira explained, eying my brother and I. "Please do what you can to make her feel welcome." this confused me. Wasn't that supposed to be her job? It was her house and her cousin.

"Are you going somewhere?" Ankou asked, standing next to me. Vira nodded gravely, surprising all of us. How the were we supposed to get Liara to feel welcome when we had only been here for a day? Much less take care of her while Vira was gone. And another thing: what were we supposed to be doing in the first place? Money and a job would be a good start. But how could Ankou and I do that if Liara was going to stick with us practically 24/7? Though, it was nice to see someone familiar, even if they had no idea who we were.

"I've been given an assignment by the council. I need to leave soon, so I'll have to trust you two to look after my little cousin. Crusnik, I can tell you're a good person, so I'm going to trust you with this." I was taken aback by her explanation, especially since I was specifically appointed Liara's practical bodyguard. This was getting to be another weird day, I could almost see it.

This proved my relative suspicions true though. Vira most likely took us in because she knew she'd have to leave and Liara was going to be alone on the citadel when she left. Maybe she was in a rush the day before because she'd just gotten her assignment and needed to think up a plan for Liara. I could understand why she was a Spectre if she thought of that so quickly.

"I'll do my best to look out for Dr. T'Soni." was my response. Vira nodded and at that, she left. An odd turn of events, I must say. An awkward silence ensued at Vira's departure. Ankou just sat back down at the couch and clicked on the vidscreen. I sighed and helped Liara carry her stuff into her room.

After a few minutes of telling her where everything was, I left her to her devices. As I entered the living room again, Ankou looked up.

"Well, that was unexpected." he said simply, watching me as I sat down at a parallel couch to his own. I nodded and looked at him seriously.

"We need to talk about…well, you know." he nodded in understanding and sighed a little.

"I don't even know how we could've ended up here, let alone surviving P-66's explosion." he said, turning off the vidscreen. Nothing but news was on anyway.

"Right. It doesn't make sense, unless…" I trailed off, a sudden light bulb going off in my mind. Ankou looked at me inquisitively. "Unless the reaction due to the unstable generator's core created some kind of instantaneous ADW."

"Yeah. The elements we had been working with had only just been discovered and classified top secret. They had powerful and unknown properties." he said, frowning.

"Not to mention that orb. It integrated into my body almost seamlessly. It could've caused the core's overload when we activated it yesterday." It made some sense, but that left some unanswered questions about the outcome of the explosion and such.

"But we don't know for sure. Have any idea how the rest of the facility fared?" he asked.

"No. it might be possible that the detonation tore a barrier of some sort, throwing us here. But the rest of the team had been taking leave at the time, so we were the only ones there." at this, Ankou stared at me, almost guiltily. I got a bad feeling from the look immediately. "What's wrong? What did you do?" his face turned sour at my questions.

"I didn't _do _anything! It just so happens that we… may not have been the only ones there…" he trailed off, not wanting to finish the sentence.

"Ankou, who was there?" he looked at me with his lips drawn in a thin line.

"Morena." that was all he needed to say.

"You have to be kidding. Not Morena." I hoped she had made it safe through the overload somehow, but even that would've been pushing it. She most likely died, but then again we were supposed to die in the first place anyway. She was a good friend of mine and Ankou's even if she was always insisting on our feelings. I didn't have very much to speak of and Ankou just hated talking about anything but killing or something related to it. Sometimes I felt like the only sane one in the whole of the facility, but if I looked at myself objectively, there was too much darkness. Either way, I had to make due with what we had. And speaking of…

"Well, let's hope she's okay. I need to run out for a while if you don't mind." he looked at me incredulously.

"More shopping?" he was shocked, I could see, but that wasn't the whole of my plan.

"Not entirely. Remember the backpack from yesterday with all of our stuff in it?" he nodded, still confused. "Most of it was almost priceless back…where we came from. But think how much they'll be now." I raised an eyebrow and smirked. He finally caught on and nodded.

"Right, yeah, okay. That's a good idea, but what am I supposed to do? Watch Liara?" he didn't sound too thrilled about the idea, but it was all I could do at the moment. I wasn't about to let her in on my plans or what had really happened to us to get us herein the first place.

"Yeah, it would be best if I went alone so we'll be able to watch Liara while getting things done. It's a part of my plan, so let's go with it for now, okay?" I asked, looking him in the eyes. We both knew Liara would freak if both of us suddenly disappeared right after her arrival to an unfamiliar place.

"Fine, but how long will you be out?" he glanced towards Liara's door to make sure she wasn't listening in. it wouldn't do to have her think we were criminals or spies.

"I'm not sure, but I'll be back within three hours. I hope, anyway."

"Ah- you hope? What are you planning on doing?" he demanded, leaning forward.

"The basics. We still need 'just in case' don't we?" I used the air quotes with my fingers when I said just in case. It was something of a running joke between the two of us that Ankou's 'just in case' always involve him arming himself with every available firearm he could carry. He always said it was paranoia, but I thought it was jut his obsession with war.

"Oh, right. Fine, but you know I only want the best!" I nodded and stood from the couch. Ankou turned the vidscreen back on as I went to pick up the backpack from the room.

_It would probably be a good idea to wear my armor too…_

A few minutes after I got my armor on and slung the backpack over one shoulder, I started for the door to the apartment. Liara was still in her room, the other one next to mine, and Ankou was still flipping through the screen's channels. I left the building relatively quickly since I wanted to get the bartering done with.

As I walked, I searched for available establishments with my Omni-tool Vira got me. It wouldn't yield much money if I went to a regular store in the markets and sold, no matter how priceless the stuff was. After a couple minutes, I got a hit. Luckily, there was an organization into buying and selling antique items just a few walkways away. The map installed into my Omni-tool was useful too, since the presidium was so much larger than it was in the games.

...

"You're serious, yes?" the salarian at the desk was about to have a seizure, I could tell. When I came in and showed him a few of my inventory, he almost fainted.

"Yes, how much are you willing to give me?" I played the role of the smart seller to show him I wasn't going to get fooled by his tactics. That is, if he still had any. He inspected each item carefully at my question and smiled. What was on the table were several first edition one-of-a-kind books from the eighteenth century. I had collected them from friends who didn't want them. They had been passed down through their families, but they saw fit to throw them away. Luckily, I kept them from such a fate. I still had my itouch and iPhone, only because I wanted to keep my music until I figured out how to transfer the files to the Omni-tool I had. For my phone, I still had ME related info on it that could create some sort of paradox in the time-space continuum.

"Oh my, these are priceless! But there's no way I could flat out pay you for all of this…" he seemed crestfallen at the realization, but I smiled.

"Well, what can you afford?" he looked up at me, a little surprised, but thought on it before answering.

"675,000,000. That's the best I can do on such short term…" my eyes struggled to keep from widening at the given number. With that much, I'd be able to get the weapons, armor mods, maybe set up a company to create a steady flow of money and there would still be plenty left over. This was starting to get real good.

"Deal." his jaw went slack at the one syllable word. Seconds later, he collected enough of himself to set up my personal account and transfer the money to it. Again, I could see immense excitement in his bulbous gaze.

"Thank you! Please come again!" at that, I left.

...

"No!" Ankou's reaction was expected. I'd just told him of the amount I'd received along with showing him the weapons I'd gotten after the selling of my books. They were Spectre class weapons which I somehow had authorization for or something. Really, it had been about two and a half hours since I'd left the apartment, so it was about twelve o'clock in the afternoon now.

"Yes. I got the best weapons and stuff, but I'm thinking on setting up a business to create a good flow of money. We'll need it for upcoming events." he recovered from the shock and gathered up the set of weapons I'd gotten him. I watched as he rushed to his room excitedly, cradling the guns to his chest protectively. He looked like a young child on Christmas.

I looked down at my backpack which held my own weapons. It had been a supposedly successful day so far, but it would be best if I thought of something else to do. Sitting around very easily made me restless. I thought on it as I entered my room and set my bag down. Perhaps some sort of welcome for Liara would be beneficial to both parties… she'd be more comfortable and Ankou and I would be able to keep an eye on her as well as scout out opportunities. Perhaps it would be enjoyable. Better than sitting around, anyway.

With my mind made up, I went to Ankou's room to relay the plan. After a small bit of convincing, I successfully pried him away from his new toys to go to Liara's room. I knocked on the door, getting an answer to come in a second later. My brother and I walked into the room to find her pouring over datapads, most likely having to do with dig sites and such. She looked up as we entered and looked a little out of place.

"Do you need something?" she asked politely. I could see she was still nervous being here, so I plastered on the best smile I could come up with.

"Yes, we would like to officially welcome you to the citadel." I stated, saying it as politely as I could. She seemed confused at the proclomation, but stood from her desk and approached the two of us.

"I believe you have done so already…" her confused expression was actually kind of adorable. Wait, where did that come from? Perhaps something in the food Vira gave me affected my process of thinking…

"We may have welcomed you, but it was too anticlimactic for my tastes." I said, ushering her towards the door. Ankou had already made it to the door and opened it by the time Liara and I made it there.

"But where are you taking me?" she wasn't resisting at all, only a bit afraid sounding. It was a natural reaction. We made it out of the door and down the hallway as we left the building.

"Hmm. Perhaps a dinner? Something of a large luncheon, I suppose…" I trailed off thoughtfully as I worked out what we were going to eat. An asari place would fit best, if only to make her feel comfortable. Maybe letting her chose where to go? Would she know of any restaurants here? Ankou may have an opinion too…

"But I'm not-" Liara was cut off from saying more by her stomach's loud growl. We all looked at each other with blank faces.

"Hungry?" I smiled, breaking into a chuckle alongside Ankou. She just blushed furiously and looked down, making us laugh harder. As we calmed down, I noticed Liara was still quite embarrassed about the whole thing. It could've been that she thought we were laughing at her. "Ah, I must thank you, Liara." she looked up at me with shock. "I haven't ever laughed before." not that I remembered anyway. I wasn't sure about my past, but it was true that I'd never actually laughed before. It felt weird and unfamiliar, but also nice. I liked it.

"You were not making fun of me?" she sounded so innocently hopeful, Ankou couldn't stop smirking and I also smiled.

"Of course not. The timing was so perfect!" my smile was starting to hurt. I wasn't use to it at all, but the way she was looking at me made it impossible not to. After a while of simple talking, we found ourselves at a lovely restaurant. And let me tell you, it was a cozy kind of fancy. It exuded a comfortable air, almost laid back, yet refined at the same time. We walked in and found seats at a booth, relaxing. After about a minute, an asari waitress walked up and smiled.

"Would you like to order?" she asked, the very definition of polite. Ankou and I looked at each other then to Liara. I looked up at her, smiling slightly.

"What would you recommend?" I asked. She seemed to think for a second.

"Any special occasion?"

"Hmm. Well, we are celebrating having our friend here, coming and visiting for the first time." I said, gesturing to Liara. The waitress nodded and smiled brightly.

"Well then, I would like to welcome you here to the citadel, ma'am." she said, bowing a little to Liara. She nodded in response but said nothing. She may have been shy around new people, it would make sense.

"How about we let you surprise us today?" I said, smiling to the waitress. She seemed to like that idea seeing as she giggled then trotted away. Ankou looked at me as if I were an idiot, but said nothing while Liara started to fidget a little. It wasn't really awkward, but it was drawn out in a way. "So Liara, would you mind regaling me in your no doubt exciting studies of the protheans?" she looked at me uncertainly for all of two seconds before she broke into a smile and started talking about how awesome they were. At least it was a good idea to get her to talk about something she was actually interested in. It would make things easier.

After a little while our food and drinks came out. It all looked like asari food, that's for sure. It was mostly just like seafood, but several times mere tasteful. I thoroughly enjoyed the meal as did my other two companions, judging by the way they ate like hungry wolves. Liara was a little more refined, but it was easy to tell she was very hungry. A half an hour later and we were full to bursting. That meal was most likely one of the best I'd ever had.

"That was delicious. I must thank you for bringing me here." Liara said, smiling. She had talked about the protheans throughout the entire meal, so she was noticeably more comfortable than she was before.

"No, it was my pleasure, really. That was a very nice meal." I responded, getting a nod from Ankou.

"Yeah, that was good." he said it almost blissfully as he leaned back in the booth. Liara giggled and looked content while she relaxed in the booth. I paid the bill for the food and we all got ready to go.

We were all walking back to the apartment, enjoying the fresh (Sort of) air after we left the restaurant. It was nice in the presidium as it was just starting to get dark. Ankou was to my left and Liar on my right. We'd just passed Delan's shop when some noise caught my attention. There seemed to be some sort of scuffling coming from the alley to my right, but I couldn't see, it was too shadowed. I had a bad feeling in my gut at the sounds, telling me there was someone down the alley.

"Wait here." I said, quickly seeping into the shadows of the alley before they could answer. I crept down the way a small bit, then noticed movement. There were two figures and they seemed to be struggling over something. I got closer to hear what they were saying.

"Get offa me!" one said, the voice female and distinctly familiar. I'd heard it somewhere before.

"How 'bout you give me that, then _maybe_ I'll let you go." the other voice replied, obviously turian. I got closer and finally made out the two figures. One was a turian, most likely a drunk mercenary, the other being…

_Wait a minute… that's-_

"I said go away!" she growled, backing away from the turian. They still hadn't seen me, I was in the shadows. Using that to my advantage, I made my way to the turian's side. Just as he jumped forward to capture his target, I stepped from the shadows and grabbed his neck, using his own momentum to slam him to the ground. Just as he slammed into the ground, my fist collided with his gut, knocking him out.

"The nice lady said to beat it." I said, standing up and turning around only to get tackled with a bear hug.

"Crusie! I'm so happy you're here!" Morena cried into my neck. It was good to see she was okay after what happened to the facility. "I woke up just five minutes ago and this-this asshole decides to try and steal my necklace you gave me!" she continued, hugging tight. She was a sister to me so I was able to put up with her pet name for me. It was endearing in a way.

"Yeah, I'm glad you're okay too." I said, finally being released from her vice grip. She smiled and chuckled, obviously relieved. "Come on, you're staying with us." I said, turning back to the alley's entrance. She grabbed and held onto my hand to stop me.

"Us?" she asked, confused.

"Ankou's here too." she smiled at that and squeezed my hand.

"That's great! The three musketeers together again!" she declared, laughing. She always had a way of getting me in a good mood no matter the situation with her exciting personality. We exited the alley and as we saw Ankou and Liara impatiently waiting, I held Morena back before she yelled out. I leaned in and gave her an idea. At the suggestion, she smiled and slowly snuck up to my brother. Luckily, both of their backs were turned, so they didn't see her coming.

"Kou!" Morena jumped into Ankou, giving him a big hug just as he turned to the sound of her voice.

"Morena?" he said, flabbergasted as he stood there. She let go of him hopped back to me as I got to the group.

"Yep!" she said, stealing my arm and clinging to it. She always did that, ever since we met. Liara was completely lost by now, but that was to be expected. Luckily, Morena had played the games along with me, the both of us figuring out every variable. Ankou had played it only a little a few years ago, so he was hardly an expert.

"Liara, this is Morena. She's-"

"Their sister!" Morena called it out before I could finish my sentence. Now, there wasn't really a way to take it back, so I might as well have rolled with it. She practically was our sister for the most part, and it would make things a little easier to explain.

"Nice to meet you. I am Liara T'Soni." they shook hands and smiled at each other. It would make sense for Liara to feel okay with Morena, her being so happy and all.

"You too." she said, releasing Liara's hand. We got back to the apartment a little while later and since Morena didn't have a room, I gave her my bed. She wouldn't let me move out of the room, so it looked like the floor was going to be my new friend. After the day's event, I found myself replaying key events of the ME game in my mind. Maybe I could fix some of the 'tragedies' that were going to happen after we met up with Shepard. Maybe before?

_Who knows, right now, I need to think._ I thought, stretching out on the floor. Now, to figure out what to do…

**_A/N: So, how was that? Longer right? I tried, but I still want to add more! Let's see what happens next!_ _Please review..._**


	3. A Ship?

**Disclaimer: I own nothing! Other than my own characters, that is.**

**A/N: I finally got things started! I made sure to explain some stuff, but as we all know, it's boring to get all the answers at once!**

A Ship?

_Where am I? I wondered, walking in what looked to be…nothing. It wasn't really white, but it was blank. Limbo, maybe. I had been walking for what seemed like forever, however impossible it was._

"_Crusnik…" a voice emanated all around me, through me. It almost sounded familiar, like I should know it. I wasn't able to place gender or age to it. I stopped walking and looked around, even knowing nothing would be there. "You have been chosen."_

"_For what?" I asked, confused at the declaration. It may have made some sense for the blast from P_66 to create a type of inter- dimensional hole, but if it was made by an unknown third party, that would be almost inconceivable._

"_For everything…" it answered. I never was a big fan of cryptic answers, especially if I couldn't see who I was speaking to._

"_I'd appreciate a little more detail." I said, more to myself than anything. Disembodied voices never seemed to give much help no matter the situation, huh?_

"_You were chosen because of the past…for the future. Yours and the universe's." I hadn't expected a reply, but it was enough for me to listen._

"_The past? I don't _have_ one. As for the future, I don't see how the universe would need me…" as I finished, I heard what could only be described as a chuckle. It was an echo in my mind ,slowly fading away. The way this…being seemed so omniscient, how it sounded as if I knew it… I had an idea._

"_You have a past, though you may not remember it. It applies to your brother as well. You were chosen for this." it repeated the 'chosen' comment again as if it knew exactly what it meant and I had no clue. Well, it was right about that, any way…_

"_Wait a minute… you're-" the echo-chuckle came again and I felt myself slipping away from this existence. Slowly, I could feel a pull from reality, bringing me back. But the voice just had to get the last word in._

"_I give you knowledge of now, of everything…but know this:" it paused for a second as I sank further "You will only find little of it, and only when it is needed." at that, I disappeared from Limbo._

…

"-nik!…Crusnik, wake up already!" I woke with a start as Morena shook me around. She looked to be rushed from what I could tell. It'd been about two months since our arrival here, but we only just hung around for the most part. There weren't any interesting jobs or places to check out, but the citadel wasn't ever really boring.

Vira had made sure to check up on us all the time and she'd obviously come back for a day or two until she'd have to take on another mission. Liara was always researching or whatever she did, but I often pried her away from that to take her out with everyone and have 'fun'.

I, for one, didn't understand the concept, but the first time Vira came back, she almost beat me up with her biotics for not making sure Liara had fun. So, that was my job: keeping everyone in order and keeping Liara from 'stagnating in front of the damn screen'. That was only one lecture Vira gave me anyway. She was certainly the motherly type.

A few weeks ago, I'd learned she was 'only' 217. She had lots of maiden time left, that was for damn sure. At the moment, she was on another mission. Something about a drug lord, I never caught it.

"Mmmm?" I mumbled rubbing my eyes. She stopped jostling me and I looked up at her.

"Ankou's waiting for you! He called a 'family meeting' a couple minutes ago, and when you didn't join, I came to get you." she explained patiently, pulling me up from the ground. Ankou wasn't the type for meetings, let alone 'family' ones, so it was bound to be interesting. I followed Morena to the living room where my brother already was, sitting on parallel couches. I sat down while Morena took up my side.

"Took you long enough." he commented, crossed arms and all. I shrugged innocently and leaned back comfortably. I gestured to the room with my hand, indicating the general situation.

"What is this 'family' meeting about, Ankou?" I asked, frowning slightly.

"Well, while you were sleeping, I got to looking for info on stuff. Guess what I found out?" he smiled slyly, leaning forward on his elbows. I sighed at his relative excitement and shook my head.

"Stuff, meaning information on Shepard and such?" he frowned and scrunched his nose in annoyance.

"Yeah… She's a girl in this reality, by the way. Funny thing, this being the year and all, we're older than her. I already feel like a grandpa." he was joking, I could tell, but having the so-called savior of the galaxy being younger than me, I couldn't help but snicker in response. Morena just smiled like a fool, holding a datapad.

"What's her history?" I asked, eying him. This was essential to planning out everything, but it could wait to later. That being the case, I wondered what other reasons he could have for the gathering. At my question, he furrowed his brows and kept up the frown.

"She was raised on Mindoir. As for the other thing, it's…" he trailed off, indicating bad news. How bad could it be though?

"What?" I urged, seeing him take a small breath. His eyes locked on to mine as he answered…

"She's been sent to Akuze." his response made me curse on the inside.

_Let's hope nothings happened yet…_

"So for _now_, she's okay?" it was an indirect query, searching for a simple answer. It made me wonder how she survived or even how she escaped the planet. It was never speculated in detail in the game, so it looked like I'd have to do it the hard way. Maybe, if we could get to her, we'd be able to stop the entire incident from happening.

"Yeah. In other news," he started, getting off of the topic. There wasn't any sense in continuing the conversation anyway. "I've managed to hack into the citadel's systems to check ourselves out!" he stated excitedly, grinning. I actually face palmed. Ankou always was able to get through practically _any_ system out there back home, but I'd hoped he'd hold off on it for at least a little while.

"How did you manage that?" Morena was shocked pretty well at the declaration, but my brother only shrugged at the question.

"It was easier than getting in to Cru's com- Omni-tool." I hated it when he messed with my files back at the facility, so I always made sure to use the highest tech encryption to make it at least hard for him. But luckily, he caught himself from saying computer. It would've been hard to explain to Liara and in the long run, it was just better left alone. "So, back to my awesome skills: I was able to see whatever files they had on us and it turns out…" he paused for dramatic effect here, only irritating me further. "That we're Spectres. All three of us. Actually, we have some really cool files, lots of rewards and medals and stuff…" he stopped as he noticed my absolutely flabbergasted expression. How in HELL did we become Spectres before Shepard?

"What?" Morena yelled, just as caught off guard as I was. This had to be impossible, right? There was no way it was happening.

"I know, it was weird, but hey- let's not look a council horse in the mouth." I took a deep breath and stood up. If that was the case, I had the perfect idea to go with it: we needed a-

_Ship- Acquired._

Immediately, I got a blasting headache. It felt as if my skull was getting a beating from the local sledgehammer. I doubled over and landed on the floor, trying to breath. I could barely make out Ankou and Morena grabbing me and rushing to put me on the couch as I gritted my teeth. Almost instantly, I felt it vanish as soon as it'd come.

"You okay?" Morena said, holding me upright. I stood slowly and blinked a few times to clear my head. It was like my mind was suddenly attacked by an onslaught of information. The picture of a very sleek looking ship crossed my mind, along with pretty much every detail about it and it's workings. I 'remembered' having the ship built...Why would... shaking my head, I finally gathered myself enough to stand on my own. Looking at my companions, I smiled.

"Yeah, back to _my_ skills…" I watched both of them closely, keeping up some suspense. "I got us a ship of our very own." Ankou quickly huffed in frustration at the revelation and Morena gaped at me.

"Do you _always_ have to one-up me?" Ankou demanded, desperately gripping my shoulder.

"Yeah, sorry about that, but let's check it out, shall we?"

…

After getting through security and such, it became an obvious fact that airport security had nothing on these guys. They checked everything with some super high tech scanner that could see even our bones and organs. Nothing would get past them unless it was certified or something. Honestly, it was entertaining seeing them 'pat' Ankou down when he complained about the scanner. 'suspicious activity' they called it. The looked on his face was priceless.

"Anyway, how long are we going to be in this thing?" Ankou asked, referencing the elevator itself as all of us piled in. I brought Liara along too, seeing it would be a little stupid to leave her alone in the apartment. It wasn't like I was worried she'd do something, just worried she'd freak if we left.

I shrugged and pressed the button to go down to dock 15. Apparently, the extra clearance and scanner was to make sure we had access to my ship. The security chief had explained it was 'an unknown, highly dangerous vehicle'. I know, I got a kick out of hearing him call a spaceship a vehicle. It was ridiculous in a way.

After standing in the elevator for a good minute and a half, we reached the dock. As the doors opened to reveal the ship- _my ship_, I couldn't resist the tightening in my gut and the smile that tugged at my lips. It was, in the least, beautiful. Sleek, stoic, yet almost intimidating. It looked like the Normandy SR-1 and 2 put together and almost doubled in size. Morena quickly ran forward as we all exited the elevator and kept going until she met the tail of the ship. Definitely longer too. It was painted black with a red streak stretching across the side.

Liara stepped forward, staring at it in disbelief and Ankou, dear Ankou, did a fist pump and yelled, "Yeah! That's what I'm talking about!" and I just couldn't agree more. This was perfect for what we needed, I knew. With the information in my head, I knew just how powerful it was, how fast it was and how high tech it was. If it wasn't more advanced than the Normandy, than it certainly was a close match.

I walked by the side of it and stopped as I got to the name. it read, "_Oblivion_" in what seemed like cryptic scrawl font. Damn name fit it well too.

"Jesus, where did you find this god of a ship?" Ankou mock worshiped me, grinning from ear to ear. I smiled in return and clapped his shoulder.

"I built it. Right behind all your noses!" I stated, immediately getting attacked with a noogie from Ankou. He laughed while I struggled free and our other two members joined us.

"Let's take a look inside!" Morena excitedly grabbed my wrist and pulled me along until we got to the airlock. I proceeded to open the doors and we all stepped inside.

As I entered, I noted the cockpit to the left and the walkway leading to the CIC. The build on the inside was mostly similar to the Normandy's, excluding the larger size. There were six decks in the Oblivion versus the four of the second Normandy and the three of the first.

This being deck two, it had the cockpit, CIC, comm room and research station. It was pretty much what Mordin's lab was. Deck one, the Captain's quarters, CO's quarters, security office, comm. room and 360 degree observation platform. Deck three had the mess hall, clinic, battery and crew quarters (one with bunks like the first, but several others for singles.). Deck four featured a work-out room, simulations room (you'll see), an armory and a conjoined room being the range/customization station (Yeah, almost overkill, right? Nah.). Deck five had the core and engineering with the generator. Deck six…

_Wait a minute…_ I searched through the information in my head, but it yielded no answer. I knew deck six existed, but didn't know what was down there. Odd. That voice had probably been the one responsible for this ship, but it seemed I'd have to figure it out on my own.

I walked down to the CIC, realizing how frigging large it was, probably twice the size of the Normandy's. I didn't know why the size mattered, but felt it would be helpful in some way. Once I reached the elevator, I noticed Ankou standing at the platform above it, already looking through the galaxy map (Star wars!). I entered the elevator and pressed for…

_You've got to be kidding me…_ Deck six wasn't displayed in the interface control. It was starting to get odd as I searched the panel, making sure I didn't overlook it. I sighed and pressed the Deck five option. A minute later, I found myself on Deck five, still looking for a way to get to deck six. There weren't any stairs or even any more elevators. Hell, there wasn't any way to get to it. I was starting to think I'd just gone mad. Finally, I gave up and headed back to the elevator, pressing for deck one.

Once I was there, I walked in to the observation platform, only to find it really was 360 degrees. The ceiling, walls, even the door (once it closed) faded to show a full view of space (or, in this case, the dock). I noticed it was interactive too! As I walked, I saw the Oblivion suspended right beside me. I looked around and saw the dock, the outside walkway and I turned, seeing the exit for the ship. It was amazing.

Once I pried myself away from the platform, I found the Captain's quarters down the hall and entered. It was a lot like Shepard's quarters in the second Normandy, only a little bigger with a second room attached for an independent work station with a mini armory (already stocked with weapons and armor mods). I returned to the main quarters and, upon seeing a small interface mounted on the wall by the bed in a relative corner, I went up to it. As I neared, it blinked on, sensing my presence, and showed a simple screen. It consisted of an outlined hand (human) with text saying; _Authorization Required._

So, being ultimately curious, I placed my hand on the scanner. It instantly released a beam along the console, scanning my hand. After about three seconds, it let out a small beep, evidently finished. Before I could even move though, I felt the ground from under me just vanish. I fell through the small, three by three square, sliding along a sort of pipe like the ones for scroll messages, but for actual beings.

It took me to what I could only guess was the bottom, seeing a how I fell down, down, then, at the bottom, it curled slightly upward as it ejected me out of the wall into a spacious hall. I neatly landed on my feet and looked around. It wasn't any of the decks I'd been in so far, and judging by how far I'd fallen, this must've been deck six. It was a sort of large hallway, being about five and half feet wide. At the end, there was only one door. I felt almost a sense of foreboding, yet…in a good way? I didn't feel threatened, only… unprepared. Whatever was behind that door was something I _knew_ I would need. But also something I knew I was the only one aware of even just this deck's existence.

I slowly approached it, deliberately taking my time. As I reached it, I noticed there was no panel on the door to open it. Instead, there was another scanner. I touched it with my hand and after the process, it opened the door. As it split open and snapped to the sides, I was greeted by a sight I'd never anticipated. There was a large, purplish core like EDI's blue one in the second Normandy, only a bit more compact. It's energy was softer than the other core's too, as it swirled about, almost gracefully.

I stepped forward and the door shut behind me as I got closer to the sphere. There was a walkway leading up to it and it stretched all the way around, circling the core. A railing was attached to the walkway too and an interface mounted on it. I reached the display and it turned on at my proximity, displaying another simple message; _Activate Cortana._

I had to laugh at that. If my assumption was correct, then this was an AI core. It wasn't exactly something I welcomed, but it was what I needed. I didn't have a crew yet, so this was probably the only thing that could fly the ship. Besides, whatever it stood for, I appreciated it's familiar name. Putting my hand on the interface, activating the core and entering the pass code (which I somehow already knew), I couldn't help but feel excited. I wanted to know what personality it had and such, but there was a sort of nagging feeling in the back of my mind. What if it was an evil AI?

As it ran the activation, I watched the core pulsate, almost like a heart beat. The energy swirled quickly, yet still gracefully and the ground hummed under my feet. I could almost _feel_ the AI coming to life as I saw light glow throughout the room and the core growing brighter until I had to close my eyes. Seconds later, it stopped and the ground returned to it's solid state. I looked up at the core, then down at the interface to see an options screen. There were choices for pretty much everything having to do with the Oblivion and it's systems as I looked through them.

Once I got a feel for the menu screen, you could say, I enabled some of them; Vocal processors, Free movement avatar (I didn't know what it was, but it didn't seem bad), Course steering, Video/Audio recorder (This was something of a double-edged sword, but I thought it would be a good 'just in case') along with medical operation (until we get a doctor) and Weapon systems. As I input the commands, the core hummed and then, after a few seconds it finished. Suddenly, a purple orb, about the size of EDI popped up beside of me, doing a little flip as if in excitement.

"Cortana online. How can I help you today, Captain?" well, she didn't sound all that bad. In fact, her voice was almost identical to the other one in Halo. Of course, she also had that slightly sarcastic voice of the Halo Cortana's so I felt plenty more at ease than I had earlier. Then again, the Captain thing was a small surprise.

"Tell me about yourself." I said, turning to the floating sphere. It paused, as if thinking, then seemed to blink.

"I need something more specific than that, Captain." she sounded a lot more 'human' than EDI did. I also noticed she spoke like the Halo Cortana.

"Your personality. You know, _you._" I poked the sphere, a little surprised at meeting resistance. Cortana laughed when I did that and flitted about in the room, circling around me. That must've been what the free movement option was.

"I felt that!" she exclaimed, sounding happy. It was adorable watching the way she excitedly moved about. I hadn't known AIs could be ticklish though. I smiled at her and watched until she calmed down.

"So, how are you today?" I asked, no longer needing an answer to my former question. I'd rather have figured it out any way. She came to a rest in front of me and thought on it.

"I'm feeling great, actually. My systems are working at peak efficiency and ship status is green." she reported, speaking proudly. I nodded and started for the door.

"Come on, let's find the others." I said. She followed me, staying at my side. Once I got to the end of the hallway, I touched another scanner and it outlined a platform under my feet. It quickly shot to the top and let me off, the floor once again closing back up as I stepped away. Cortana met me at the top.

"Beat you." she said, already getting a kick out of being 'alive'. I poked her again playfully in response, getting her to giggle quite a bit. I walked down to the OP (Observation Platform) where Cortana said Liara was and entered. She looked at me as I approached and smiled.

"This is an amazing ship, Ms. Crusnik." she never really got the whole friends thing did she? I thought friends were informal with each other all the time. It would be odd to call Morena Ms. Morena, right?

"Please, I like you enough to prefer you call me Cru. Anything else is too formal…" I didn't really get why she blushed when I said that, but I brushed the thought away as she noticed Cortana was behind me, as if hiding. So, the AI is shy, huh? "Liara, this is Cortana. Cortana, this is Liara." they seemed to stare at each other as I spoke, unsure of what to say. Slowly, Cortana glided up to Liara.

"Nice to meet you, Liara." she said, sounding more relaxed. Liara just smiled and said the same to Cortana.

"Now, where are Morena and Ankou?" I asked my new AI, to which she replied; "Ankou is in the armory and Morena is attending the CIC." so the three of us headed down to deck four to get Ankou.

"Ankou, Cortana, Cortana, Ankou." I introduced them, already seeing the excitement in my brother's eyes.

"Yes! We get our own AI!" he said, surprising the AI in question. After they met, we went up to deck two for Morena.

After they met with the same reactions as earlier, with Ankou, we all ended up in a meeting deciding what to do. Seeing as how I was already the unofficial leader, Cortana officially made it official. I appointed her the official adviser and my personal favorite AI, to which she happily agreed. Morena said she wanted to man the research station, while Ankou said he'd take care of the armory and Battery calibrations.

"Okay, so we can pretty much do what we want now…" Ankou said, looking lost as to what exactly to do. Morena frowned and crossed her arms.

"What should we do?" she asked, looking at the ground in thought. Liara then stepped forward.

"Well, if it would not be too much trouble, I would appreciate a ride to the next dig I'm attending." she said, looking a little shy. I nodded and thought through the choices. It would be good to see what the Oblivion could do.

"We'll get to it. I want to get you there safely, so it would be best if we took you. Where is it?" I was starting to think Liara was just shy when it came to personal stuff, because whenever I talked about something casually, she blushed. It was perplexing.

"Thank you, -…" she caught herself as I eyed her and raised an eyebrow. "Thank you…Cru." she finished, earning a smile from all of us. At that, we all started to get ourselves ready for the journey.

…

"Cortana, what's the ETA?" I asked, sitting in the pilot's seat. We'd just plotted the course to the planet with Prothean ruins Liara mentioned. I had sent Vira a message explaining everything (about taking Liara on our new ship, nothing detailed) about a half an hour ago too, so she wouldn't turn the citadel upside down, looking for us. Somehow, I didn't doubt she could do it if she had to.

"Four days, Captain." I sighed a little and looked at my spherical friend.

"Tana, you can just call me by my name, you know." I said. She didn't say anything for a minute, as if processing the information and adjusting to my spontaneous nickname for her.

"Four days, Crusnik." she said it like she was tasting a new food. I smirked and shook my head.

"That's close enough…" I muttered, yawning. It had been quite a day. Getting a vision, a new ship, reviving an AI and coasting through space. Quite a day, indeed.

"It's getting late, Crusnik, why don't you get some rest?" Tana suggested, sounding decently curious. I shrugged.

"Wouldn't you get lonely or something?" I asked, looking at her. She paused again.

"I won't get lonely as long as I'm not alone…" she didn't seem to understand the concept so I let it go. After standing from the comfortable chair, I went to the Captain's quarters. Once there, I bid Tana goodnight since she escorted me to my room. It was nice really. Having my own ship, a nice AI and a relative purpose.

I got into bed with those thoughts in mind and did my best to drift off to sleep.

…

Those four days went by quickly, what with getting everything squared away. All of us, with the help of Tana, became familiar with the ship for the most part and started to learn what we would need from her. Luckily, we all (Excluding Liara) knew several martial arts and were highly adaptable at whatever task appointed to us. Ankou was best with tech and such, being a fan of the shotgun and sniper rifle, while Morena was quite the hacking expert along with being a powerful biotic. I know, it was a surprise to all of us, but luckily, Tana was able to give her a prototype L4x implant, it being the latest and strongest. If that wasn't enough, the implant came with no side effects.

I on the other hand, loved all of the weapons, but the AR was my favorite. I had 'mad' skills, as Morena put it. Mostly, I was a decent hacker and able to take care of any wound I needed to on the field long enough to survive. Another skill I had was adrenaline rush and regeneration. They were obviously traits of a shock trooper, but Tana said all of our potentials were pretty much boundless. It was a good thing, considering we'd have to take on the Reapers.

"We have arrived, Crusnik." Tana said, referring to the planet Liara was going to. I nodded and called everyone down to the cargo hold.

Once we were all gathered and said our goodbyes, Ankou and Morena went back to their respective stations. Liara and I had previously agreed that I'd accompany her down to the planet. It was my idea really. I wanted to make sure she'd not get attacked as soon as we left or something.

As we entered the shuttle, it exited the cargo hold and started for the planet below. After a few minutes, we set down to the surface. Liara looked pensive for a second before she stood and exited the craft, me following behind. As I stepped out onto the ground, I realized how deserted these ruins looked. It was almost sad, looking at them…

"Thank you for everything, Cru." she said, still hesitant. I didn't really get it, but I didn't want to let her leave. Well, we were good friends.

"Not a problem. It was my pleasure." I said, forcing a smile. I wasn't quite sure, but…I thought I felt sad, somehow. Why was that, I wondered.

"Really, you didn't need to be so gracious to me- none of you did. But you went out of your way to make me feel welcomed. I really appreciate it." she finished, blushing again. I nodded. She was making me feel a little guilty at the praise. It wasn't really a choice for me, since Vira made sure to keep it clear.

"I'll see you again, Liara." I said, giving her a hug. It may have been a while, but I thought she looked like she needed one, given we were parting ways. She returned the embrace furtively, until it was time to go. I stepped back in to the shuttle and said a final goodbye, before taking off and disappearing in to the clouds.

After five minutes or so, we set a course back towards the citadel and I was in the pilot's seat. It would be some time before Liara and I saw each other again, but it was nice to know we were friends even before the storyline of the game. Maybe I could deal with the Shadow Broker before she got hardened because of all the dirty dealings. It was hard to see her like that in the games, so I didn't even want to experience it in reality.

"Crusnik, are you feeling ill?" Tana asked, sounding worried. He, a worried AI. Hilarious.

"No, why?" I asked in return, looking at her avatar. She paused for a moment before answering.

"Because I sensed a 'skip' in your heart's beating pattern." I was a little confused at it, but just shrugged it off.

"I'm fine, Tana, but thank you for asking." I said, smiling slightly. I just wasn't in the mood for talking. It was odd, but perhaps this was what missing someone felt like. I didn't like the feeling, and I knew we'd see each other again, but I still felt it.

Two hours later, I was fiddling around on my Omni-tool, looking for music to listen to from my original time. Back when I still lived at the facility. A beep from the console distracted me from my thoughts and I shut down the tool to take a look. At this, Tana pops up.

"We are receiving a distress call, Crusnik." she said, sounding a little worried. I looked at the message origin and just about fainted. It was Akuze! Already, it was happening! I searched for any local ships, but found none. And we were the only ones around to save the day. Fuck my life.

"Set a course, max FTL speed! We have to get there _now!" _I commanded, already running to alert Ankou and Morena._ We're going in._

**A/N: Cliffhanger! I've been wanting to write one of those! So, how's _that_ for a twist? You'll just have to see what's going to happen to Shepard, huh? Well, that's _if_ our awesome hero(s) can get there in time...**

**P.S- Review please! I could use some advice or whatever you want to say, you know.**_  
><em>


	4. Akuze

**Disclaimer: I own nothing! Other than my own characters…**

**A/N: Things are starting to speed up, right? And yeah, the Oblivion may have been overkill, but with what I have planned (Sort of) it may be needed.**

Akuze

"We have to land now!" I yelled, looking out the window. I could already see the Thresher Maws tearing in to whatever was left of Shepard's platoon. Most of them were in a group, laying waste to the now ruined camp, but I could see one of them was chasing down a lone soldier. I couldn't make out who it was, or what was really going on in detail, but I had to get there- now.

"I am sorry. Hostile threats detected. Unable to land in current location." the shuttle's VI responded, already starting for a high cliff about a hundred yards away. I growled and stood from my seat.

"What're you doing?" Ankou screamed as I opened the shuttle doors. Morena looked on in horror, knowing what I was about to do. The lone thresher was directly below now. I'd be damned if I wasn't going to help that soldier out.

"Express way!" I yelled back, leaping from the craft. I immediately drew my AR and peppered the thresher's head to get it's attention. As I roared and flipped in the air, smashing on to it's head, it stopped. The enormous creature screeched and jerked around, tying to dislodge me, but found no luck. Just as it screamed again, I jammed two grenades down it's maw.

My short distraction granted the monster enough time to throw me off and land on to the ground in front of the soldier that stopped when I jumped on to their pursuer. Just as I collected myself and looked up, the thresher exploded, sending guts and blood flying in to me. As I looked at the corpse, I laughed. The first thing I killed in this universe was a Thresher Maw!

"Damn, that was exciting." I muttered, standing up to look around. The camp was a ways away, but I could already hear counter fire. Probably Ankou and Morena, protecting whatever was left… I turned around and approached the soldier. Just as I neared though, I stopped short. She… this was Shepard. It was impossible to mistake the messy red hair and piercing violet eyes.

"Wah- Who-…" she was gasping for air. Probably ran from the thresher for a while. I crouched down next to her and pushed her on to her back so I could assess the damage. Several burns and a small laceration on her eyebrow, but nothing I couldn't handle.

"Deep breaths, you're safe now." I softly said, staring at her. She nodded slightly and proceeded to take my advice. I pulled out a pack of medi-gel and began applying it to her burns. Once finished on her torso, I moved to her face. The cut was bleeding, but her eye was intact, so I just stemmed the flow and sealed it with medi-gel.

"Thanks. I was sure I was-" before she could finish, I felt a fission in the ground. An instant later, another Thresher Maw erupted from the surface, towering over the two of us. I turned to see it ready for an acidic attack. Through reflex, I threw myself over Shepard, shielding her from the blast as it poured over me. I hadn't had time to put my armor on back on the ship, so I'd just thrown on a light Onyx mod. Unfortunately, the acid was too strong, melting through the plating like butter. I screamed, but managed to keep Shepard from the attack.

Suddenly, there was a slicing sound as the thresher screeched behind me. I turned my head enough to see it being frozen in place, a curious bluish-green line, reaching down it's body. Slowly, it split in half, falling dead beside of the other one. I saw a small hooded figure, not taller than three feet standing behind the now dead creature, two green light…sabers?… drawn.

_Wait just a damn minute… that's…_ I thought, struggling to breath. The pain seemed to dissipate as I stood shakily. I looked down at my arms, noticing the gaping holes in the armor, but…no wounds? Once I recovered from the nausea, I gazed down at the small figure, now walking up to me.

"Yoda…?" I asked, recognizing the much-loved being from a movie series back on Earth. He drew back his hood and looked up at me with what seemed like recognition. How would he know me?

"Hmn. Know me you do?" he asked in his endearing backward speech. His eyes searched mine as I felt he could see in to me.

"Who wouldn't?" I asked, sitting down. Shepard was still behind me, but I could see her gobsmacked expression when I looked to my left. I noticed the fire and roaring coming from the camp had ceased now too, so everyone would find us soon.

"Saw you through the Force, I did. Very odd, a force sensitive, here." he said, standing in front of me. Was he talking to me? No… "Come to train you, I have. Will of the Force." I sighed and looked down at my hands.

"There's no way I'm a force sensitive." I said, frowning. That was impossible, especially because it was me. I was never one for fictional tales, but because of that, I never believed in supernatural abilities. It was illogical. But then, was anything in this situation logical? No…

"Fooling yourself, helps not. Brought here by the Force both of us were. No coincidences." spoken like the true Jedi he was.

"I know there may not be, but…" I trailed off, hearing someone approaching us. Once I looked up, I was positive insanity had me in it's grip. There, before me stood Ankou, Morena and…

"Hey Crusnik, look who we found!" Ankou called, gesturing to Noble team. Yes, the very Spartans of Reach were here, in front of me. Each of them walked straight up to me and stared down at me, helmets off. I glanced at Yoda then stood up.

"You their leader?" Carter asked, eyeing me.

"Yes." I said, returning the half-glare. He seemed to relax at what he saw, but still just looked confused. All of them did. The entire Noble team was staring at me along with Yoda. It made me wonder if I had something on my face.

"Alright then. I'd love to know how in the hell we got here." he said it as if I was supposed to know. It had to be the doing of that voice. Maybe they were 'chosen' too.

"I imagine each of you were teleported here an instant before your deaths or something, right?" at their nods, I continued, "Then you're probably going to want to know what happens…" I searched each of their faces, only finding either irritation or confusion. Ah, so Noble six was a girl, huh? Cool.

"The Force, it wishes for our meeting." Yoda piped up, looking at me. I smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, something like that. I'm going to have to ask all of you, if you wish, to join me. I have plenty to explain and plenty of time." they all nodded and seemed relieved. Sort of.

"Um, hello? Someone want to tell me what's going on?" Shepard coughed, getting all of our attention. I had almost forgotten she was there.

"Once we're back on my ship, we'll take you where you need to go." I said, heading for the shuttle.

…

After two hours of explaining to everyone (excluding Shepard) what was going on, what happened in their respective universes, they took it pretty well. For the most part, they only listened to what their efforts meant. Apparently, the Noble team tried to get to Shepard's camp to help out, but didn't make it in time. Yoda said he woke up and sensed me so he went right to finding me. Not to mention, saving my ass.

When they all met Cortana, they were a little confused. It was understandable, but I explained they were different AIs. I had to wonder if there were going to be any others joining up too. Oddly enough, I was able to adapt to the situation pretty well. Yoda said he'd start the training the next day, so I told everyone to rest and do whatever for the time being.

"Odd bunch, Crusnik." Tana said, referencing our newest arrivals. "We drop one off, get seven more. What is this?" it seemed rhetorical, so I only shrugged. We were in the cockpit, setting in the course for Shepard's next station. Admiral Hackett had sent a message to me earlier after I'd gotten in contact with him. Apparently, Spectres got enough pull to be able to pull a fleet admiral from a meeting just to tell him of one soldier's status. It wasn't something I wanted to do, but Shepard had been insisting on news.

"Yeah, but they're cool. Best of the best you know…" I added absently, standing from the pilot's seat and heading towards the elevator. Tana followed beside me. We'd become good friends already, but it was evident she wanted some more action going on. With our new guys, it would be hard to stay on track, what with everything already happening. I entered the elevator and pressed for deck three.

Once on deck three, I saw everyone was hanging around the mess hall, chowing down. I went in to the med-bay and watched Shepard as she fiddled around with her food. I suppose losing your entire platoon like that was enough to screw with anyone's appetite. She looked up when I got to her, seemingly tired.

"We're on our way to Arcturus station. Hackett wanted to send his apologies." she only nodded and continued to pick at the rations. I really needed to update our supplies. I turned to leave, but a hand circled my wrist and stopped me. I turned back to see Shepard.

"Thanks. I thought I was screwed from that first one, but then you… then the second one… you shielded me…" I tried to see the reason she felt a need to thank me, but failed. I may have save her life, but Yoda saved both of ours. I didn't do a very good job in my opinion. But what happened after I got burned by the acid… I _felt_ it melting my skin and pouring through my system. But when I looked down a minute later, the injuries that were supposed to be there, weren't. I wanted answers, but it looked like I'd just have to make due for the time being.

"It was nothing." I said. She released my wrist, but still looked at me like I was crazy.

"It wasn't nothing! You killed that thresher and saved my ass, so thanks." I nodded and sat down at the bed beside hers.

"Not hungry?" I asked. She looked at me a little guiltily, but shook her head.

"It's not right… for me to eat right after my platoon died…" I went up to her and clapped her shoulder to get her to look at me.

"But would they want you to starve yourself? You may be the only one here, but they live on in you." she nodded once I finished and weakly smiled.

"I guess you're right. Thanks." at that, I left the med-bay.

…

We got to the next post for Shepard about a week later. She had gotten better after what I'd said to her and continued to be paragon, you could say. Honestly, I was just glad she was alright, as sentimental as that sounded. Once we docked and Shepard was ready, I accompanied her down to Arcturus station.

"It's been good." she said, shaking my hand I nodded and returned her smile.

"Yeah. Though, I've got to say…" I began, getting an inquisitive look from her, "I can't imagine this being goodbye." she didn't know what I was talking about quite yet, but hey… all in good time, my friend.

"Well, you never know. Who are you, anyway?" she asked. I remembered she never really found out what my purpose was or what our occupation was, so I shrugged.

"Just… someone who'll be there when needed." so, without further ado, I departed from Arcturus station.

…

"Crusnik, what are your plans at this time?" Tana asked following me as I headed towards the OP.

"I think we're going to need some more supplies if we're going to keep from starving to death." I absently replied, entering the room.

"Yeah, talk about hollow legs!" she laughed, flipping in the air. I zoomed our location in the system and caught sight of the Oblivion, gliding through space. I stood beside it as I looked out at the stars surrounding us. Nebulas and asteroids drifted by and planets seemed to scroll slowly across the room. It was beautiful. I had been spending a slowly increasing amount of time in this room to think and meditate on everything.

"Yeah, I didn't know Yoda could eat like that." I snickered, purposely skipping Noble over. She laughed in response and flitted about. "Anyway, do you have any suggestions as to what planet we should drop by?" I asked, getting her attention.

"I guess a planet with a city would work better if you want variety…" she said, circling around me, as if in thought. I wondered if the motion was akin to a human pacing.

"That'll be great."

"Then how about we go to Illium?" she suggested. I had to ponder what possible consequences would entail a trip there. It was better than Omega and the Citadel was a little far away.

"Sounds good." that decided, I continued to look out at the passing nebula.

About a half an hour later, Yoda came in and joined in my wanderings. We sat beside each other silently for a while until he broke the silence.

"Sense worry from you, I do. What is wrong?" he asked, genuinely curious. I looked at him thoughtfully for a moment.

"Just… everything. I've been having visions lately."

"Hmmmm. Show you the future, do they?" he asked in his exaggerated tone. I couldn't help but feel more at ease in his presence.

"I'm in this place, but not. There's nothing there, but everything exists. It's Limbo, I guess. Then, something comes, as if from everywhere. It speaks, but not with a voice. It's been telling me that I've been chosen for the future of the universe, but nothing more than that." as I explained, I saw him thinking deeply. After a moment of silence, he looked up at me seriously.

"Speaks to you, the Force does. Never before happened, young one." he looked totally sold on the notion that the thing, I'll call it Limbo, has contacted me. I suppose it was a good a guess as any, but it would explain how it seemed to flow everywhere, even through me. Maybe that's why I had those visions, anyway.

"Yeah, I agree. But why is it that I'm the only force sensitive? Ankou's my brother, so wouldn't he have ability too?" Yoda thought on it briefly, then shook his head slowly.

"Know, I do not. Awaken, your brother must. Unpredictable, the Force is." I had to agree with that, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to be the only one who could use the Force, other than Yoda. Of course, it only meant I'd have to find out if Ankou was going to awaken sometime soon. Before that though, I wanted to stock up on supplies and figure out what to do.

"Master?" he looked up at me questioningly, "Are you okay?" I remembered he was never really asked about his health in the movies, though he always helped everyone else. It was a little irritating how that was. At the question though, he only smiled.

"Hm! Fine, I am, young Jedi." well, he certainly looked healthy. I nodded and stood up.

"That's good. Do you mind if I get some rest?" it had been a long day, with plenty of twists and such, so I wanted to catch some shut eye. He shook his head, indicating for me to go ahead, and began to meditate.

…

A few days later, all I could do was think about what was to come. The wasn't much I could do at the time, so I passed it by running checks with everyone. Noble was taking up the bunk room (thankfully, it was large) while Ankou took the Co's room, Morena took a single room and Yoda… well, you never know with Yoda. I never saw him sleeping, anyway. Maybe he just slept while meditating.

In any case, I resolved to start acquiring crewmembers that actually maintained the ship. So far, the only people I had mostly hung around. They were more fighting types anyway. Luckily, Kat, Noble six AKA Alexis and Tana made sure to keep everything running smoothly. Kat and Alexis were also working on upgrading armor and weapons. They were using their own as templates and such, even taking measures to add extra features to our HUDs and suit capabilities.

"About five minute till we get there, Crusnik." Tana said, still following me around the ship. It was hard, sometimes, to remember she was an AI, given how 'alive' she sounded or how she was able to just float around. I occasionally poked her avatar just for the giggling that ensued. Apparently, I was the only one that could touch her other than Ankou. He just wasn't really the type for constant company, so Tana preferred to stick by me, stating it was more exciting than checking systems constantly.

"Okay, thanks." I said, already heading towards the airlock. I called Kat, Ankou, Alexis and Morena to join me, seeing as they were the ones itching to look for whatever supplies. Kat wanted to check out the tech, armor, and weapons places with Alexis while Morena looked for the food and Ankou and I searched for… hmmm. I didn't really have much of an idea of what we were looking for, but maybe some information would be helpful. We could be like galactic saviors or something. Nothing better to do anyway.

"Hey! Hey, Ms. Crusnik!" I turned at the voice calling me to see a human male running up to me.

"Yes?" I asked. As he caught his breath, I crossed my arms. Ankou looked at me with irritation, but I shrugged it off.

"I'd like to make you a proposition." he said, smiling at me. It was odd how he already knew who I was, let alone wanting to make some sort of deal with me. With those thoughts, I waved for Ankou to go on ahead while the man and I headed off.

After a small while, we came to a seemingly deserted walkway, which was odd, given this was a city full of people. He turned to me with a smile still on his face, only this one somehow… off. I didn't feel right about the situation or this man, but even through that, he'd be stupid to do something to me, right on Illium.

"Ms. Crusnik, how would you like to help make humanity stronger?" he asked. I felt that the question was abrupt. He seemed to have some hidden meaning to the words.

"What are you talking about…?" I trailed off as I saw him pull something out of his pocket, showing a part of his shirt I failed to notice earlier. It had a diamond symbol emblazoned on his shoulder. I couldn't help but curse on the inside.

_Cerberus! _before I could react though, I felt a stinging pain in the back of my head, the force of the blow knocking me in to the ground. As I hit, I felt a needle jamming inside of my neck painfully. The liquid ejected from it burned slightly as I tried to wrestle free from whoever had me on the ground.

"Thank you for your cooperation, Ms. Crusnik. You'll be the perfect prototype for Project Phoenix." the man's smug voice was the last thing I heard before darkness consumed me.

…

Ankou was starting to get impatient with Cru. She had all of this shit going on and he was stuck playing the side-character of a brother. He'd be damned if he was going to le his sister get all of the damn glory, that was for sure. As he passed another asari family, he couldn't help but notice the way they all seemed so happy. The exact opposite of him and his sister. Well, not really opposite. They didn't actually 'get' the whole _feelings_ thing and he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to.

It was odd, the way things seemed to be happening so quickly. He wasn't sure if being here or having everything they had was a good thing or not, either. One day, the core of P-66 decides to go critical, he and his sister get blown up, they _wake up _in the ME universe, get a home, a ship, new teammates… it was just ridiculous. Yet, at the same time, Ankou couldn't help but feel excited at the prospect of killing all of those Geth and the Reapers later on. Until then though, he'd have to find some way to ease the itching of his trigger finger.

"Where are you…?" he absently muttered, referring to Cru. Suddenly, a wave of danger and pain filled him. He twirled around, looking for the source of the feeling, but found nothing out of the ordinary. Then, he noticed that it felt… distant somehow. As if it was coming from somewhere else…

_Cru!_ the realization struck him hard. That sister of his never knew how to stay out of trouble did she? But how did he know?

"Ankou!" he turned to see Noble team, Morena and Yoda rushing up to him. He met them half way and immediately knew why they were here.

"It's Cru, she's in trouble!" he stated, looking to each of them. They nodded in agreement and looked down at Yoda, who was staring intently at Ankou.

"Know where she is, do you?" he asked. Ankou nodded slowly.

"I think I can feel her presence…she went with some guy earlier who said he needed to speak to her." at that, they all went after Cru.

**A/N: Sorry it was a little shorter than the last one, but I thought I'd just end it off here and let you guys take everything in before I continued. Anyway, please review!**


	5. Revelations And Discoveries

**Disclaimer: I own nothing! Excluding my own characters, that is…**

**A/N: Have no fear! I don't plan on making her a subject of Cerberus experimentation like the other SI's! But then, what **_**do**_** I plan on doing?**

Revelations and Discoveries

_Slaughtered. Bodies, screaming. Chopped into bits before my eyes. Ten. I'm ten. Watching my family, friends, siblings get massacred in front of me._

_I'm kept by __Them__. Souvenir. Pet. Toy. __They __torture me for fun, to see what I would do. How loud I can scream. Skin burned, sliced. I'm tied up, screaming._

"_Ms. Crusnik…" a voice. Who's? I scream again. The pain is unbearable. Acid injected in to my veins. Killed from the inside so many times. I should die. Why won't I die?_

"_Ms. Crusnik… Wake up…" wake? How can I? there is no escape. I scream from the razors. They slice in to my skin, tearing my organs. Over and over and over. Ripping me to pieces._

"_Check… Wake her…" there is no help. Not here. Not in this hell. I am alone…_

"_Her brain's… off the charts…" another voice. Where are they coming from? A light. There is a light. "What is it? I reach out._

…

My eyes snapped open. I was in a cold sweat and panting.

_A dream? _I thought, catching my breath. _It was so real though… _I looked around, but all there was, was white walls and medical tools. Ones typically used for surgery, but these were heavy duty. They had blood all over them and around the trays they were on. I had to bite my lip at the implications of that. Memories came back and I remembered Cerberus took me.

Someone came into my line of sight. It was the man from before, the one that kidnapped me! That _asshole_!

"You know, Ms. Crusnik, you continue to surprise me." I tried to move, but there were restraints keeping me in place. They actually hurt a little.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, glaring at him. He tutted and started to circle around my chair. I had to wonder how long I'd been out.

"Well, it just so happens that you're not technically human!" he laughed, a wicked gleam of excitement in his eyes. I wasn't easily moved to violence, but he was already chafing me. I was considering strangling him as soon as I escaped. Well, _if_ I did. "Your physiology is so complex and adaptable that, wonderfully, you won't die from natural causes. But, add in your remarkable healing ability and your almost impossible to kill!" he then proceeded to mimic an evil scientist's laugh, sounding truly psychotic. But then again, he _was_ an evil scientist…

"And how would you know that?" I asked, truly wishing I could drive a bullet through his skull. He had a very effective ability to piss me off, even when I wasn't angry. Of course, I really hated evil people. The tyrannical, psychotic (in a bad way), egotistical assholes that they were.

"Oh, I made sure to take thorough scans of you while you slept." he added condescending to his voice now. I briefly thought he may have had a shitty childhood or something, because this was a special kind of crazy. Not that I really cared about his younger years of trauma.

"Asshole." I only muttered it, but he caught it anyway. Immediately, he leaned down, right in my face, and spoke slowly, threateningly.

"What…was…that?" he growled into my ear, pissed at my apparent attitude.

"I said…" I turned my head and looked him straight in the eyes. "Ass. Hole." then I smiled with absolute menace. He seemed startled. For all of two seconds. Then, he stood back up and slugged me. Hard. My head snapped to the side, and I could already feel the blood seeping from the split skin on my cheek.

"You _will_ learn respect!" he declared, staring me down. I snickered at the words, surprising him again.

"Oh, I know respect. Just not with you." I mimicked his condescending tone from earlier, all the while smirking. He decided then was a great time to grab one of the tools, a large scalpel looking blade, and stab me straight through! I felt it clang against the table as it went through my body and I grunted. I bit my lip to keep from screaming, but there was no way I'd give him the satisfaction.

"Now, would you mind repeating that for me?"

…

"Dammit!" Ankou cursed, running through the streets of Illium. Dammit, Crusnik! They had been following her trail for about a half an hour and still, they weren't able to get to her! That guy must've had help if he was able to get her out of there so quickly. But as they ran, he started to notice that it led to the docks!

"They might've already taken her off world by now!" Jun said, scanning the area for any sign of Crusnik.

"Maybe, maybe not. But if they're heading for a ship, then we need to move! Double time it people!" Carter ordered, simultaneously surging forward. Everyone followed suit, continuing on the path left behind.

…

"Aaaaaaaggghhhh!" I bellowed, trying to bear the pain. I had been refusing to address Dr. Gerick, the man who kidnapped me, anything other than asshole or some other word of profanity so far. It had only been about twenty minutes, but it felt as if I'd been there for years. He was continuously using different machines and tools on me, coming up with creative ways to slice me open.

"Now be a good girl and listen to the doctor." he fake pouted in front of me, mocking me. It was irritating to say the least, but there was no use in getting angry. Though, even as I said that to myself, there wasn't any way _not_ to hate him. He was a total and complete maniac.

"Well, I've been thinking…" I trailed off, noting the hopeful look in his eyes. "...and I still think you're a dick!" I yelled at him. His face scrunched up in disappointment at my declaration.

"Well, alright then…" he turned to the tray of tools and pulled out a drill. I had to suppress the shiver that attacked me at the sight. I knew exactly what he was about to do. But there was no way in hell, I was going to give in to him. Suddenly, there was a sound at the door. It sounded like…

_Clicking…?_ as the thought passed, though, the door opened, allowing another man entry. He seemed to be focusing on a datapad, but when he looked up at me, I saw the same darkness in him as with Gerick. So, partners in crime, huh? This guy looked to be stronger though, more muscle.

"So, we have another one, huh?" he didn't look very into it, but there was no mistaking the gleam in his gaze. Ass hat gave a nod in excitement.

"This is the one I've talked to you about, sir! Let me show you!" the new arrival stared at the asshole with an eyebrow raised, as the latter proceeded to tear me apart- _with a damn saw! _I screamed in pain as I felt the revolving spikes slash my skin, organs and bone. Were they ever going to get tired? I could only watch as the new arrival studied my regeneration with interest, taking notes the whole time.

…

Another hour later and they finally found it. The last fucking ship on the docks, but there it was. Suddenly, it's engines came online, evidently starting to take off.

"No you don't!" Kat yelled, throwing a tracking device onto it's hull. There, it attached and started transmitting. Just in time too, since the ship then took off, blasting toward the atmosphere.

"We need to get going." Emile said, cracking his knuckles.

"Supplies?" Jorge asked, sighing slightly. Morena nodded.

"Already on the ship and stored away." she said. Carter nodded and Ankou grimaced and turned towards the area in which the Oblivion was.

"Then let's not waste any time." he said, rushing back to the ship. Everyone followed, the same thought on all of their minds;

_What are they doing to her right now?_

…

"That's enough for today, I'm getting tired." Gerick announced, telling two guards to take me to the hold. They picked me up by the arms and dragged me. Maybe they didn't want blood on their uniforms? I chuckled to myself at the notion, trying to keep my mind from feeling my flesh knit back together. After all, it was everywhere. I didn't think they'd ever be able to clean it off of anything, there was so much, but I doubted they cared.

After a minute or two of dragging later, I found myself getting thrown like a rag doll into a medium sized room. It was relatively well-lit, so at least I could see. I looked up and noticed some small figures huddled together on the other side of the room. It looked like they were cowering from me. As my vision refocused, I felt a surge of pure, white-hot rage overtake me. They were children! Those _bastards_!

There were four of them. They all looked to be little girls, two Humans, one Asari, and… fuck a duck. The fourth was a little Quarian girl, not five years old. The poor things, they looked terrible! I couldn't help but notice the two human girls looked to be twins too. Well damn. I struggled to a sitting position and took everything in, trying to calm down.

"It's okay." I said, smiling. "I'm not like them. I won't hurt you." I noticed the little Asari calm slightly as she searched my gaze. Then, slowly, she came forward. I couldn't help but see she was injured. Her leg looked swollen and maybe broken. Damn those scientists! She reached me and put a hand out, touching my forehead. I felt she was waiting for my permission, so I nodded. At that, she did the embrace eternity thing and searched my consciousness. After a few seconds it ended and she swayed from exhaustion. I caught her in my arms as she fell into my lap and looked her over. Luckily, it was just her leg that was hurt.

I lightly placed my hand over her leg and closed my eyes, concentrating. I was happy that Yoda had taught me some level of healing with the force over the past few weeks. A white glow emanated from my hand, surprising the youngling, but she didn't move. I forced her bone and muscle to repair, boosting the rate of regeneration several fold. I made sure to realign it as well so there wouldn't be any complications later on. Her swelling went down and almost dissipated, but I wasn't exactly a master yet.

It was enough to stop the pain at least and heal her leg for the most part. After my little display was finished, I leaned back against the wall. I wasn't really sleepy, but I was exhausted. The other children came over then, and leaned against me. I could see they were uninjured, save for a few cuts in various places, so I released a controlled burst of healing energy, surrounding the group. It took care of their wounds, but it did a number on me. Still, I thought it was worth it to ease at least a bit of their pain.

"Thank you." the little asari whispered, cuddling into me. I couldn't help the stab of worry that took me as she said that. So, I swore that I would protect these children the best way I could. I wouldn't let harm come to them as long as I was still breathing.

"Yeah." at that, I watched over them as they fell asleep.

…

"Faster, Cortana!" Ankou yelled, standing in the cockpit. It had been two days since Crusnik's kidnapping and they finally caught up to the ship that had her. Currently, they were in a space race as one tried to flee and the other chased it.

"I'm going as fast as I freaking can!" she called back, clearly irritated. Ankou only growled though, watching as the enemy's ship headed toward a Mass Relay.

"Well go faster!" he replied, ignoring the limits at which they were flying.

"If you think you can do better, go right on ahead!" Cortana countered, temporarily silencing him.

"Screw it! Fire!" he commanded, gripping the pilot seat.

"You sure you want to risk it?" she asked, sounding uncertain.

"Yes!" at that, the main cannons fired, hitting the rival's ship's engines, effectively shutting them down. Ankou slowly relaxed, seeing they were coming in to board the ship. He went to alert everyone of the current status and get ready.

…

Two days. Two frigging days, I was tortured. At least I had been able to keep the creeps' attention on me, away from the kids. They were quickly growing on me, as bad as I knew that was. I would have to return them to their families eventually, if we ever got out of here. Each time I came back from getting tortured, the girls would huddle around me and ask if I was okay. It was cute how they fussed over me so.

A little while ago, we were getting thrown around the small room, hitting crates and such. It was evident that they had been chased and caught by someone. Hopefully, it was the Oblivion, come to save the day. Just as I thought that though, one of the scientists burst in, looking absolutely pissed off. He stormed up to me as I stood and stepped between him and the children. His eyes burned furiously and he stuck his pistol into my head, grinding it hard.

"You. This is because of you!" he yelled, getting into my face. I couldn't help but smile with satisfaction when he moved his hand back to strike me. Instead, when he threw his fist back down, it struck only air. I had sidestepped the blow, then took my own fist and stuck him hard, on the temple. It sent him to the ground in a heap. A shot blared down the hallway, startling me a little, but I maintained composure. As a loud firefight ensued, the kids stuck around my legs, gripping onto my torn and shredded pants. I had to hand it to the scientists… they had be really thorough. My clothes were just bloodied scrap now. Dried blood, even some still wet from the last 'session'. I grabbed the man's pistol, readying myself.

A couple minutes later, the gunfire ended. Then, heavy footsteps rushed through the hallway, drawing closer.

"What's happening?" one of the twins, Sera, asked. All of them were frightened, but if what was happening was what I thought it was, then we were finally getting out of there.

"Some of my friends have come to get us out of here… I think." I frowned, listening for the footsteps. They were getting closer, but it was a little hard to tell with the echoes. A second later, Alexis' head pops into the doorway. As she caught sight of me and I of her, we both sighed with relief. I lowered the pistol and threw it to the ground.

"I found her!" she called back. More footsteps and a few seconds later, Ankou and Morena were in the doorway with rage clear on their features. Noble team was right behind them, looking half-irritated, half- happy…ish to see me. Well, as happy as they could be, I guess.

"Idiot! How did you let yourself get kidnapped!" Morena cried, tackling me with a hug. Ankou came up to me, scowling.

"You know what trouble we went through to get you back?" he wasn't happy, but I could tell he was at least pleased I was still alive. Then, Morena let go of me.

"Why're you wet…" she trailed off, noticing the blood all over me. There was plenty caked onto my skin itself too, so it was hard to mistake. "Jesus Christ, you've got blood all over you!" she was startled and stepped back as Jorge came over to check if I was okay.

"Blood, but… no wounds?" he muttered to himself, studying me.

"It's a bit of a story…" I trailed off. The kids were still clinging to me, most likely not very comforted by the Spartans. Then, Yoda came in, looking happy to see me… I think.

"Younglings, hmmnn." he mused, getting everyone to finally notice them. At that, they held on to me tighter, obviously not used to seeing new creatures, especially ones like Yoda. I looked down at them and smiled. They looked up at me, a little confused.

"These are my friends, kids. They've come, just like I said." as I spoke, they relaxed visibly, but still stayed close to me. The Spartans and my brother looked at them uncertainly, while Morena and Yoda studied them with something like interest.

"What do we do to- I mean, _with _them?" Emile asked, catching himself from saying something incriminating to the children. I thought on it for a minute before looking at each of my crew mates' faces.

"Can I speak to them alone? The rest of the ship probably has some useful stuff we could use." each of them looked either amused or annoyed, but they nodded and left. Then, I sat down on the floor. The kids did the same, sitting to face me.

"I need… to ask each of you something really important, okay?" as they nodded I took a breath. I really didn't want to do this, but I had little choice. "Do any of you know where your families are?" I asked, pursing my lips. They all looked down at the ground when I did so, but at least they didn't start crying yet.

"All of ours were…" the second twin, Sophie, trailed off, sniffing a little.

"Taken away… they're in Heaven now…" Sera said, fidgeting with her shirt. The young Asari girl nodded, taking hold of my hand.

"What will happen to us now?" the little Quarian girl, Vera' Rota Nar Rayya, asked, looking up at me worriedly. I thought for a second, wondering if the idea I had in mind was really a good one. Probably not, but it was better than the alternatives.

"Would you all want to come and live with me?" at the question, all of their faces lit up and they jumped forward, giving me a big group hug. Although I didn't have emotion or at least in any form in which I _felt_, these kids were doing a heck of a job getting me all gross and mushy. Maybe that was what a family meant. Ankou and I were siblings, but love didn't really come with the package.

"Does that mean you'll be our mommy?" the kids all asked, wide smiles on their faces. Did I really have what it took to be a parent? I didn't even know what parents did, let alone how they were supposed to act! But then, if I didn't take them, I'd only end up constantly thinking about them. It would do more harm than good not to take them, and I had plenty of room.

"I guess so!" I said it as if I had just realized it. They giggled at the response and jumped around happily. "Now, let's get outta here!" they all agreed and we set off to find everyone else to tell them the news.

…

"What is it with you and strays, Cru?" Emile asked, confused at my taking the kids in. We were the only ones in the mess hall while everyone was either tinkering or asleep. I found Emile's humor pretty entertaining, so we usually talked about stuff, mostly war stories.

"I didn't see you complaining when I took _you _in." he laughed at the answer and slammed his fist onto the table.

"Fair enough, _Captain_ ." he was making fun of me, but that was his usual routine. To each his own, right? I stood from the table and started for the elevator, heading to my own quarters. I was ready for some real sleep. The scientist's vessel wasn't exactly a comfort cruise.

"Yeah, yeah." I waved my hand goodbye to him and he grinned. At that, I entered the elevator and headed for deck one.

I got into bed and settled in for the night, getting comfortable. Just then, there was a knock at the door.

"Come in." I called, sighing. Just when I'm about to sleep.

"Mommy?" I looked up and saw Celia, the little Asari. She had told me a little while ago that she was equal to the age of an eight year old. She looked a little sheepish as she walked up to my bedside to see me.

"Something wrong?" I asked, propping myself up on an elbow. She looked down for a second before looking at me again.

"I had a nightmare…" I sighed a bit, then scooted back to make room for her. She climbed in bed and cuddled into me, clinging to my shirt. It was adorable, really. I kissed her forehead, then went to sleep.

…

The next morning, I sat in the simulations room, finishing up the code I had been working on. The machine was able to generate 'scenes' from either coding or memory. It had something of a scanner to encase the head of whatever wanted to, essentially, download their memories. It was adjustable too, so at least it didn't fit only humans. Of course, parts of the machine needed to be upgraded to hold enough memory for complex scenes.

A few minutes later, I finished the coding and looked it over. I had decided to try and replicate the nightmare I kept having. It was spontaneous. Sometimes I would have the nightmare, other times I would have visions of memories that weren't mine. Or were they? Either way, I wouldn't find out until I recovered my memory from that time. Or any time really…

Seeing that the code was inputted, I set to activating it. Seconds later, the room faded away and brought up a dark, dungeon-like room. There were figures, hidden by shadows, huddled around a bloody, rusted table, muttering things. Screaming ensued from the table as they lowered tools onto it. I felt my blood run cold as I remembered what that felt like.

I slowly walked forward and around the table. I caught sight of the ten-year-old on the table, blood and organs, spilling from her torso. The figures poked and prodded her, testing reactions to each area. It was an experiment! But for who…?

The scene faded out, returning to the white walls and interface control at the other end of the room. I had to shake myself off a little when the torture from the scientists propped into my mind.

"Crusnik?" I looked up to see Ankou standing at the doorway. His face was confused and a little pale, telling me he saw the scene. I didn't say anything as he came forward and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Your nightmare?" he asked. I had mentioned to him a little while ago that I've been having the nightmare, but nothing really more.

"Yeah." he squeezed my shoulder, then released it.

"Anyway, I came to get you." he said, sounding annoyed.

"What's wrong?" I was concerned, but then, he got angry pretty easily.

"One of the little things, the Quarian? She keeps asking me where you are!" he whined. I raised an eyebrow at him, but stayed silent until he finished.

"Why?" I asked, eying him.

"She said she wanted to ask you something." at that, he stomped off, scratching his arm. I chuckled at his temper. It was hard to remember how smart he was sometimes.

I left the room a minute later and ran into Tana as she floated by. It looked like she was waiting for me, seeing as how she glided back and forth in the hallway in front of the room's door.

"Tana?" I asked. Her sphere turned around and seemed to stare at me.

"Hey Crusnik, what do you plan on doing?" she asked, sounding curious.

"What do you mean?" I was a little confused at the question. I needed some more detail than that, anyway.

"Well, you have the Oblivion, Spartans, a Jedi and a bunch of kids. What are you going to do with it?" at her worried tone, I realized what she was really asking.

"You're asking, what am I going to do that affects you?" I took her silence as a sign of affirmation, so I continued. "Well, I'm not going to get rid of you if that's what you mean…"

"Good. I thought I might've needed to _convince _you to keep me!" she laughed. Occasionally, her humor made me think she may have had some kind of violent programming, because the things she said…

"No need to worry, Tana. Remember, I appointed you official adviser." I smiled, ignoring her comment. For a second, I thought the orb may have narrowed her eyes on me. Not that I really saw how that could be possible…

"I'm also your favorite AI!" she raised her voice in irritation at my lack of mentioning her additional title. I laughed at her childish antics, only irking her further. "Hey! It's true!"

"Yes, I know, I was just giving you a hard time!" I laughed, barely noticing a sudden tug at my pants. As Tana huffed and floated away. I looked down to see Vera clinging to my leg. Her body language suggested she was a little embarrassed. Maybe she was just shy. It would be understandable what with everything she went through. I came to realize a little bit ago that she was really only five years old. Seeing that Quarians and Humans had similar life spans, I was able to understand what type of mentality she was in at the moment. Relatively, anyway. I may have been extremely skilled in reading people, but 'getting' children was hard. Especially since it was actually the first time I'd come in contact with one, or any, in two years.

Back then, it was at the facility. It had been the first time I'd seen a child (that I remembered), so I had no idea what to do. Unfortunately, the more I ignored it, the more the kid followed me around. It got to the point that the child started calling me "Auntie". To this day, I don't appreciate being called that. In any case, I bent down and came face to visor with Vera.

"Yes? I was just about to come find you, by the way." I spoke to her softly, trying not to scare her or anything. The poor girl already went through so much, I didn't want to add to her list of traumas. She shifted her eyes a little, avoiding my gaze, only to look again, then jump back away. It made me wonder if she'd already done something illegal.

"Mommy, can I have a new suit?" I looked her over and saw the suit she was currently in was worn and had numerous blood stains on it. The blood was either from me or her family, but from the colors, it was both. I felt a stab of guilt for what she's gone through, but there was nothing I could do about it now.

"Of course, little one." I replied, smiling. She let out a happy squeal and wrapped her little arms around my neck. I then finally noticed Carter, standing outside of the workout room, staring at us with a bemused expression. I shot him a 'what do you want?' look. At that, he shrugged and went in to the room. Realizing Vera wasn't about to let go, I stood up with her in my arms, opting to carry her rather than sit there all day, hugging in the middle of the hallway. She giggled when I picked her up and laughed when I threw her into the air, catching her as she fell. I didn't know why, but I felt like it was the right thing to do with a child. It could've been some sort of muscle memory or instinct… perhaps my parents did that…?

After telling Tana to divert the course to the Citadel, she reported it would take a couple of hours. She still sounded a little annoyed with me, so I poked her sphere, making her laugh, albeit reluctantly. She really acted like a kid, but I liked it. I felt better knowing she wasn't a murderous entity just waiting for us to fall asleep before she makes her move. A few minutes later, me and Vera happened upon the twins.

"Go bother your mother!" Emile grunted, trying to ignore the two six year-olds. Evidently, they were harassing him. Every time he turned away from them, they'd just follow his movements, ending up standing in front of him again. When he commanded them to go bother me, I walked up to him from behind and coughed.

"Something wrong, Emile?" he twirled around to see me, then relaxed. When the two little troublemakers saw me, they ran up to me and each took hold of my legs, smiling mischievously. Their looks made me feel nostalgic somehow. Emile sighed as he gripped my shoulder and shook me slightly as if to accentuate his words.

"Get these kids to leave me alone, please!" he hissed desperately, making me chuckle. At the gesture, he glared at me.

"Can't deal with the popularity?" he just growled quietly and stormed off, fidgeting with his kukri. All of us started to laugh, even little Vera. As we calmed down, I looked down at the two with mock disappointment. At my expression, they looked at me shamefacedly, afraid of getting a talking to.

"You two should know better than to bother uncle Emile, you know." they looked down, their faces flushing a little. Even through this, though, I couldn't help but smirk.

"However…" they looked up at me again, curious at my change of tone. "It was funny wasn't it?" they both gave me toothy grins and laughed, dancing around my legs.

"Uncie Meel!" they squealed with excitement, saying it over and over. Well, why not give the good Spartans a hard time? It was getting to be a good life aboard the Oblivion. I couldn't help but chuckle as they tried to get me to dance with them. I may have been in a good mood, but dancing wasn't something I ever did. I could sing very well though. Back at the facility, my team would constantly pester me to sing for them whenever we were off shifts.

It may have been odd, but I found myself wondering how they were doing. Either way, that place wasn't mine anymore. I'd never had a home, but maybe… just maybe I could have one here. As I watched the girls happily sing Emile's name, I smiled.

_Yeah… just maybe._

"Hey, guess what?" Vera's high pitched voice asked the two twins, getting their attention. I could hear the smile in her voice at the request. It gave me a small sense of worry.

"What?" both asked in unison, still grinning.

"Mommy's getting me a new suit!" she declared, tightening her grip around my neck a little. At this news, the young humans' faces turned sour and pursed. Their brows knitted together as they looked at me, seemingly trying to look irritated. They were too cute to be taken seriously though, so I had to bit back a smirk.

"We want new clothes too!" they once again spoke together, making Vera laugh. They glared at her momentarily before turning pleading looks on me. I sighed and smiled down at them. All of the kids were wearing rags currently, so I had been planning on getting them new ones anyway.

"Well then, let's get you new clothes! I'll even let you pick them out!" I conceded, seeing their eyes sparkle with joy. I looked over to see Celia standing behind one of the tables, looking lonely. She must've come looking for me and found me playing with the kids, thinking I was happy without her. The poor thing. I smiled at her and the four of us went up to her. The kids immediately went to hugging Celia while Vera laughed at them triumphantly, saying she got to hug me instead.

"Celia, I want to get you some new clothes, okay?" I asked, crouching down to meet her at eye level, balancing on the balls of my feet. Vera rested on my knee, giggling as the twins tried to climb on my back. Celia blushed a bit and nodded, holding her hand out for me. I took it and stood back up, thwarting the mischief makers' efforts on climbing me like a tree.

There was still some time before we made it to the Citadel, so I thought up of something to pass the time.

…

After two hours of watching movies the kids wanted to see, Tana said we had arrived at the Citadel. As we all disembarked, save for Yoda (he said he wanted to meditate or something), I decided to carry the twins this time and make them happy. Celia said she wanted me to carry her too, but when I mentioned her sleeping with me the night before, the other kids turned on her. They kept asking her how she got to do that, trying to figure out the skill themselves. Their antics made me laugh to my self as I picked up the two twins, interrupting her from what they were saying to Celia. The little asari just looked at me as if to say the others were stupid and smiled. I just shook my head and herded everyone into the elevator.

Once at the top, we stepped out into C-Sec. I immediately caught sight of the most hated reporter of the galaxy: Kalisah Bint Sinan Al-Jilani!

**A/N: It was a little longer than the other chapters this time to make up for the shorter last chapter. Yay. Anyway, sorry for being a day late with the update, but my morale has been low. I mean really. **_**Three **_**reviews? From **_**one**_** person? (Thanks by the way, you give good advice)**

**Anyway, I hope you guys'll be able to leave reviews in the future, even if it's only to insult me… then I know someone's really reading my stuff.**

**P.S. I am planning on something NEW and AWESOME next chapter, so beware; it is not for the faint of heart! **


	6. Some Fun?

**Disclaimer: I own nothing! Except for my own characters…**

**A/N: Anon! Stilphyell! You are godsends! Thanks for the questions and everything. By the way, I was going to address the Spectre issue in this chapter. Hence the going to the Citadel for a relative excuse. But I made sure my character didn't tell Shepard of their status. It would've created a sort of leak seeing as how she is watched constantly after surviving Akuze. Also, the Quarian kid needs a little story of her own, or it wouldn't make sense, right? Don't worry, I'm getting to it soon! Anyway, I do think I've come up with something of a plan to tie everything together. But it may be a little weird at first…**

Some Fun?

"Oh, you have _got_ to be kidding me!" I hissed, getting everyone's attention. They looked at me, then to where I was looking. Morena gave out an audible growl, Ankou sighed and the Spartans just seemed confused.

"What, did she do something to you?" Jorge asked, eying her. I shook my head slightly. The twins in my arms were going by our example and glaring at the woman while Celia and Vera stared at her. Celia seemed to be sizing her up, but Vera was just gripping my pants leg and staring at her. Then again, there wasn't much I could see, since her expression was hidden behind her veil.

"Well, she's done a lot of stuff. Just not to me, quite yet. This only shows she's about to corner me in an 'interview'." I elaborated, still trying to ignore her presence. Carter looked at me questioningly, his hand unconsciously going for his gun. I frowned slightly, but said nothing at the display.

"What do you mean?" Kat wondered aloud. Her hand was on her pistol too.

"Well, let's just say she does her absolute best to discredit anyone she 'interviews'." Morena said, crossing her arms. I nodded and turned to face the team.

"Here, Alexis, I have an idea." the recently quiet Spartan gave me a 'what are you talking about' look as I forced the twins into her arms. Emile chuckled and Jun just smirked. I could see Carter was doing his best not to laugh at the sight.

"If you're planning on slugging her like that one Krogan, I want to do that." Ankou grinned, raising his hand a little. I returned the expression and looked to each of the Spartans.

…

As the elevator descended, Kalisah could finally see her target! The already famous Crusnik, mysterious savior of Akuze. There had been rumors stating she and her team descended on the planet to save the Alliance post, but got there too late to save all but one lone soldier. Lieutenant Shepard was unavailable for any interviews, but Kalisah wanted to go straight to the source. Besides, that damn Emily Wong had already gotten to her! There was no _way_ she was going to let this one get away!

Though, as the elevator doors opened, she and Crusnik caught gazes. She watched as her prospect frowned and turned to give a set of twins to one of her subordinates. They all looked like they could certainly do some damage, but she was confused as too why there were children with them. Surely, the mysterious leader couldn't have had kids?

After a minute or so, her target started to exit the elevator, a smile evident on her face. Just as Kalisah called out though, the Captain burst into a dead run! She passed the reporter quickly, shooting her a shit eating grin her way! She cursed on the inside, turning to follow the target. She ran into an elevator at the other end of C-sec, the one leading to the wards. Kalisah barely even registered the rest of the team entering the elevator leading to the embassies.

Once the wards elevator was back, she jumped into it, repeatedly pressing the button. Once it finally closed and started to ascend the damned contraption started to play elevator music! It was irritating beyond measure! Once the machine _finally_ opened, she caught sight of Crusnik. The target was just starting to ascend the stairs!

"Oh no you don't!" Kalisah roared, sprinting after her retreating mark. Said mark gave a look of glee as she doubled up the stairs. Just as the leader crested them, she took off. Kalisah burst to the top, hot on her heels! Suddenly, a leg outstretched in her pathway, effectively tripping her. She fell flat on her face and groaned.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" one of the objective's s teammates, a man in orange armor, bent down and pulled her to her feet. From his tone though, she didn't think he was sincere.

"Whatever!" she grunted, following after the running figure of Crusnik. She came to a rapid transit station a minute later. The damned woman escaped in a cab!

_Like hell!_ the reporter thought, jumping into another one and slamming on the accelerator. Just as she broke from the platform though, another cab came into sight and slammed into her own! The comm. chirped and she accepted the call, already trying to get around the vehicle.

"Sorry 'bout that." she looked through the windows of her cab and saw another one of Crusnik's subordinates! He was wearing a helmet with a skull painted on it, sending a bit of a chill down her spine. Shaking it off, she accelerated after her goal, not anywhere near giving up!

After a while, they came to the financial district. Instantly, Kalisah jumped out, chasing after Crusnik. They ran through the streets, getting many looks of confusion, even curiosity from the people they passed. She could hear the almost maniacal laughter of her prospect! She was doing this on purpose! Just then, a pair of arms stuck out on either side of her, double clothes lining her! She flipped in the air, then once again, smashed on her face.

"Damn! Sorry, lady." one of them said. She looked up and saw the two females from the team. They were certainly having a time of this! She growled and surged forward, continuing behind the still running Crusnik. She turned a corner, then disappeared from the reporter's view.

"Shit!" she cursed, reaching the corner only to find the last of the armored soldiers, this one wearing light blue armor. He completely blocked her path, but even if he wasn't there, she could see that Crusnik was already gone. At her curse, he turned around, having previously been walking after his leader.

"Do you need something?" he stared her down, making Kalisah back away a little. She glared at him, then grunted.

"I will interview her if it's the end of me!" she declared, earning a smile in response.

"I'll be sure to pass that along." he said. At that, he turned around, leaving her behind.

…

I gasped for air, having reached the Human embassy. I'd gotten everyone to give her a hard time just to see how far she'd go to get to me. Apparently, pretty far. Laughing, I finally caught my breath and straightened to see Ankou and Morena standing there with the kids, looking hateful.

"Why don't we get to clothesline her?" Ankou demanded, scowling at me.

"Seriously! She's the most hated reporter in this entire damn galaxy, and you have us pass up the opportunity to land her on her face?" Morena gave me that WTF look and crossed her arms. I shrugged, walking up and smiling at the children who returned the favor.

"I needed someone to get the younglings here, now didn't I?" they just growled at me, but said nothing. After a few minutes of waiting, Noble caught up to us, evidently satisfied from smacking Al-Jilani around a little. I remembered the video I saw at the Broker's base in the game where she, apparently, had an Asari girlfriend. That made me wonder how it was even possible for someone to even like her, let alone… anyway.

"Well, that was fun." Jun said. He had been the one watching from above, coordinating the chase. He gave cues and such, making sure the beat down went well. It was actually a lot more fun than I had originally thought, but then again, this was Al-Jilani we were talking about.

"Well, I try." I said, leading the way to Udina's office.

…

"ADOPT?" Udina practically screamed it at me. We had gotten to him only about five minutes ago, but as soon as I uttered the word adopt, he turned into a rampaging lunatic. Trust me, I've seen them for real before, I would know. His face was bright red and he looked so shocked, I'd have laughed at the sight were it less serious.

"Yes." I sighed, flicking a bang out of my eyes. The things never cooperated with me, they were terrible. I really needed to cut my hair soon, it was getting way too long. At my confirmation though, he looked all the more upset, opting to scrunch his nose in what I thought was confusion.

"Why would you want to adopt four children? Not to mention, one is a Quarian!" he yelled, stepping closer, almost getting in my face. I had sent everyone outside earlier as a precautionary thing. If Udina saw me barging into his office with a squad of Spartans, he'd have called C-Sec on us.

"Because they need me. Besides, it would look good- for humanity, you know." he seemed like he was about to say something of an insult again, so I held up my hand,, and quickly added, "For you also. Think of the implications of a human adopting some alien children. It would certainly bring up humanity's reputation." there was no way he could deny this, even if I was completely pulling it out of my ass.

He thought on it for a minute or two. I could almost see the cogs working in his brain. I stood there and calculated the pros and cons of what I was doing. The kids could get in danger later on, but if I wasn't there to protect them, how could I know they were safe? And once I joined up with Shepard, I knew Sovereign would attack the Citadel, so I couldn't leave them there. And even after that, the collectors would be attacking Human colonies. So that too was out of the picture.

"Fine." Udina grunted, snapping me from my introspection. "But you'll have to work out the little Quarian yourself. I can't do paperwork for non-council races." I nodded at him, a little reluctantly, but it was the best I could do. Besides, I had expected I would have to deal with little Vera myself. It wouldn't have made sense for me to be able to adopt a Quarian through anywhere but the…

_Damn…_ the realization hit me suddenly. I would have to go through the Migrant Fleet if there was any possibility of adopting Vera. But then, I also remembered Tali telling Shepard in the game, that the Quarian race was like a huge family. I had serious doubts that they would even let me into their fleet, let alone keep one of their kind. In the end, I suppose it was up to Vera to decide. That is, if they gave her a choice in the first place.

Udina finished the paperwork and I signed the stuff. Really, it was a bunch of datapads, but paperwork was paperwork. I left the room, all the while feeling Udina's stare on my back. Once through the door, I closed it behind me and went down the hall. I got to the front desk area where everyone was pointedly waiting and sighed. At least I got most of the kids documented. Honestly, I was a little surprised that Udina agreed to the whole thing, but facts were facts. And politicians were politicians. There was no changing their ways, I might as well have used it to my advantage. Besides, humanity needed the good publicity, even if most of them really were the assholes everyone else thought they were.

"So how'd it go?" Alexis asked. The kids ran to me and gave hopeful looks. I smiled down at them and picked Vera up from the ground. I knew I needed to talk to her, but how was I supposed to speak to her as an adult? She was only five years old, for Christ's sake!

"Well, I'm officially the mother of these children now." not including Vera… everyone looked at me with something akin to pity but the girls started squealing with excitement, breaking me from their expressions. They all hugged my legs and started to jump around while Vera clung to my neck, holding tightly. After they calmed down, we started for a clothing shop to get them some real apparel. I felt a little guilty having them wait so long, but it was best to get the adoption crap out of the way.

A few minutes of walking later though, I noticed a familiar Asari walking up to our group. Upon closer inspection, I saw that it was Vira! Well, what a pleasant surprise. As she neared though, I felt something amiss. Now that I looked, I could see she was pissed. Royally.

"Crusnik!" she snapped, getting everyone's attention. She stomped straight up to me and glared into my eyes. Yep. Definitely infected with the rage disease.

"Hey Vira." I said, trying to sound lighthearted. She just brought up a hand and poked me in the chest, hard.

"Don't you 'hey Vira' me! I know you've been lying to me! This whole time!" she shouted, accenting each word with a jab to my chest. Noble looked at me as if to say 'WTF?' while Ankou and Morena stepped up to my sides. Little Vera clung a little tighter to me, but stayed quiet as the rest of the children did.

"Lying?" Morena asked, getting a glare her way. Vira turned on her then, giving her a scowl. Man, if looks could kill…

"Yes! All three of you in fact! Why didn't you tell me you were Spec-" I cut her off then, putting a hand over her mouth. We were getting odd looks from passerby already, and it wouldn't do to have the entire Citadel know our 'status'.

"Vira, I'm sorry. I really can't explain, but I wish I could, believe me." I said. Getting a grunt in reply, I removed my hand and hoped she wouldn't say any more. Ankou decided then was a good time to start with the questions, which, you could imagine, only served to piss her off more.

"How did you know?" he wondered, making her turn on him.

"Because the Council told me to come and pick you up!" she lashed, crossing her arms. Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. I nodded to Noble, who, thankfully, got the message and picked up the kids. Carter took Celia, Jorge took the twins and I gave Vera to Alexis. Once that was done, they left, keeping on the path to the store.

"Then let's go." at that, Vira stalked away, leaving us three to follow.

…

"This is impossible!" the Turian councilor yelled, slamming his fist onto the desk. We were at the Citadel tower, but instead of being in the big fancy room with the bridge and such, we were in a private meeting chamber. It made sense, given the situation. The three of us sat in chairs on one side of the table, while the councilors sat on the other side. We had been there all of a half hour, waiting to be asked a question. The only thing that's happened so far, are Velarn's denial and Tevos' efforts at calming him down. Though, I could see she- all of them, in fact, were utterly confused by the whole situation.

"Yes, this does seem…odd." Retoma muttered, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. Ankou was clearly aggravated and Morena was obviously about to punch someone. I was annoyed too, but I couldn't help but have another brilliant idea as to how to get out of this mess. Well, the only possible solution other than having the three of us arrested and put away for life. Which, admittedly, would be a while.

"I find this a situation hard to believe, Captain." and they kept calling me a captain. Of what? Did me being the owner/ (not really) builder of the Oblivion automatically make me a Captain? Well, I was the leader, but it seemed a little… egotistical. Well, in any case, it was time to put my skills to the test. Let's hope Yoda taught me right…

"We _are_ Spectres." I waved my hand, ever so slightly, in the direction of the councilors. I poured all I could into the persuasion impulse, targeting their minds directly. It was a little tiring because I wasn't used to using the ability, but I hoped it was enough.

They were quiet for a minute, as if not comprehending what I had said. Their faces were blank and showed no emotion beyond slight confusion. My two companions looked at me as if I'd grown a second head, but I could make out the smirks they were trying their hardest to hide.

"You remember the initiation. It was deemed top secret." I continued, wholly concentrating on the force impulse. They didn't blink, as if entranced.

"You _are _Spectres." Retoma muttered, completely taken in. Jackpot!

"We remember…" Tevos said, as if thinking back. I preferred they used their own imaginations, but I added a small 'memory seed' in the impulse to at least match up what they would 'remember'.

"Yes… top secret…" Velarn murmured, scratching his head.

Slowly, I let the impulse fade, but left an impression on them so they wouldn't realize I had messed with their brains. Funny. The Force reminded me of the Prothean beacon. Both fucked up people's minds. Though, I was a little concerned with Tevos. Seeing as she was an Asari, there was no real way for me to be sure she couldn't sense my interference. It may have worked, but there was no telling what would happen in the future. Well, mostly anyway.

After that, the councilors ended the meeting, saying we could stay as Spectres, but it was to remain a secret until they told us otherwise. Unfortunately, that meant we would be taking their orders from now on. At least we would have something to do…

…

"That was awesome!" Morena said, patting me on the back. We were heading towards the shop that the kids were getting clothes at. I snickered at her exclamation, but Ankou just scoffed.

"Yeah, well, there's no telling if the effect will last." he said, grumbling and shoving his hands into his pockets. Luckily, there were a few sets of clothes on the Oblivion specified, apparently, to our own sizes. The outfits were similar to the Cerberus uniforms on the second Normandy, only these were black and red instead of yellow and white. They certainly looked cooler, but since these were only simple uniforms, they offered little protection against bullets and such. Not that we had any plans as of yet to get into fights on the Citadel. Of course, Noble always wore their armor out in public. They took them off on the ship, but I had to admit that it was really weird to see them without their armor on.

We finally reached the shop and stepped in to see everyone was there. The kids were running around, looking at various wares, while Noble just sat around. It had to be one of the finniest sights I'd seen, looking as Spartans shopped for clothes with a bunch of five year-olds. They looked up as we entered, and seemed relieved. They all stood up and came over, intent faces on.

"Would you mind if we went back to the ship?" Jorge asked, looking restless. The rest of them nodded and I returned the favor. At that, they left with Ankou and Morena.

"Mommy, you're back!" Sophie called, running up to me and jumping into my awaiting arms. It was odd, how I was able to be at least a little human around these kids. Given who I was, I was shocked at myself with being able to care for them in any way. But it was nice to know I wasn't a total machine. I guess…

"Yes, I just had to meet up with some friends." I smiled at her, noticing she was holding a pair of gray cargo shorts and a dark green tank top. It was a little surprising seeing that these types of clothes still existed, let alone sold in the Citadel. After Sophie, Sera came over clutching a pair of dark green cargo shorts with a gray tank top. Twins these days…

"Why was that lady mad at you?" Sera asked, looking up at me. I smiled down at her and ruffled her short reddish hair.

"Because I failed to tell her something that was important." best to start teaching them to be good people now, than start later. She just looked at me and knitted her eyebrows together as Celia came over. She was holding a purple-ish two piece jumpsuit. It was like an Asari commando suit, just more…refined. She smiled up at me and held onto one of my legs.

"But why didn't you tell her?" Sophie asked.

"Because it was hard to believe. Even I was unsure if it was true." they just nodded up at me, willing to accept it for now. I knew they'd be up to their antics again soon though. Vera came over then, running up to me and immediately gripping my leg. Somehow, I felt… wrong. She made me think there was something wrong.

"What's wrong, little one?" I asked, picking her up. She sniffed a little, telling me she was trying not to cry. I could already feel the anger boiling up in me.

"The man called me a thief!" she hiccuped, grasping me and burrowing into my neck. She must've meant the man at the counter. I did my best not to immediately burn him to a crisp with a little thunder, but it was best to keep anger in check. Just so there wouldn't be too many dead bodies to count.

I went up to him, unable to keep myself from sizing him up. Shorter than me and much less… athletic. He looked at me, then to Vera, then back again. He was about to say something I could tell was going to be racist, when I gently set Sophie down and instantly grabbed his collar. I got in his face and gave him the absolute most intimidating glare I could muster. Luckily, I was naturally scary, and given I had shifting eyes (They change color with emotion), it only enhanced the affect. Good thing, too, because I could see he was ready to wet his pants.

"Now, would you mind apologizing to my kid here?" I hissed, showing a menacing grin. Realization and shadowed confusion slipped into his expression, but mostly, he was just scared shitless.

"I-I'm s-s-sorry, I-I d-didn't-" he stammered, his face turning red with humiliation.

"I will ask you this one time, so listen up…" I growled, scowling at him. "Do you have any suits that will fit her?" at the question, he seemed to think as if his life depended on it. I wasn't going to kill him, but he didn't need to know that.

"Y-yes, I h-have one." at his affirmation, I let go of his collar, pushing him to go and get it.

A minute later, he rushed out with a small armor box and set it on the counter. I opened it and peered inside. The suit was the same color of Tali's and looked in good condition. I paid him for everyone's clothes, then asked if there was a clean room she could use to change. He said yes and directed us to the back where everyone could change. Vera's room was at the end of a line of five rooms. Sophie and Sera went into one and Celia went into another. They claimed to be able to get clothes on themselves, but I had my doubts. After a minute or so, they asked for my help, so I set them straight and got them settled. Once they were done though, I noticed Vera was still standing outside her room, looking a little unsure.

"What's wrong?" I asked, walking up to her and crouching down. She looked down for a moment before answering.

"I can't change on my own…" realization hit me. Well, it would make sense, now wouldn't it? I smiled at her and stood back up, looking for something. There wasn't any way I could help her without getting germs everywhere, so I needed a face mask. After a few seconds, I spotted a couple of them, hanging by the doorway. After putting one on, the both of us entered the room (After a mini-ish decon. cycle).

"How does this thing work?" I muttered to myself, helping Vera out of her current attire. After some effort, I got the damn thing off and opened the armor crate to get out her new suit. And, let me tell you… Vera was THE cutest little thing I'd ever seen! She had light purple skin and the most adorable silver eyes imaginable. I really wasn't one for cute things, but I was willing to make an exception this time.

After another five minutes or so, we got her new suit ready to go. At that, we left the room, got the rest of the kids, and left.

…

Now, I thought that this day couldn't get any more exciting, but I was swiftly proven wrong. As soon as I got to the docks, I ran into one of the most improbable people possible. She had just popped out of a wormhole and fell on top of me (seriously?)!

"Where the hell…?" she said, scrambling off of me. Once I stood up, she pointed a cannon at me and demanded to know where she was! A damn cannon!

"This is going to take some explaining, Samus…"

**A/N: Dun dun dun! How did you like it? I hope it was okay, I'll try to do more epic stuff soon, trust me!**

**P.S. I need to know if you guys have any romance pairings ideas, or something, because I'm not set on anything. I'm good with most anything, so just review or send me a message so I can get on that.**

**P.P.S. I also need to know if you guys care whether or not Crusnik and Liara get together. I'm not really caring too much, but I'd rather they get together so I can 'fix' the timeline a little.**


	7. Arrivals

**Disclaimer: I own nothing! Excluding my own OC's, anyway…**

**A/N: Samus! What a surprise! I wonder if someone else is coming this chapter?**

Arrivals

"How do you know my name?" Samus asked, keeping her cannon trained on me. She was wearing a suit I didn't recognize from any of the games, but it certainly looked as if it was fully loaded. It was reminiscent of her fully corrupted suit from the third of the trilogy since it was a luminescent blue color. But as I looked it over, I saw it was of a much more advanced design.

"Because you're awesome…?" I muttered, somewhat helplessly, but kept calm. It was hard not to be a little antsy when Samus Aran, the most notorious bounty (or Pirate) hunter alive had her cannon pointed at you. But at the same time, it was exciting.

"Well, that's nice, but I need you to tell me where I am." she said, lowering her weapon, just slightly.

"You're on the Citadel." I held my hand up to stop her from saying anything yet, "and, before you ask, it's obviously a place that doesn't exist in your reality."

For a moment, she looked at me as if I were insane, but opted to take in the information before saying anything. It was a good thing she was so smart, otherwise she'd have just attacked me on sight. From what I remembered, she was definitely skilled. The kids were hiding behind my legs and I had been carrying Celia, so she was clinging to me and laying on my shoulder.

"Then where am I?" she asked cautiously, eying me through her visor. I could barely see her eyes, but it was easier to see through than the Quarian visors, anyway.

"This is a different dimension entirely. It's a completely different reality, actually." I said, smirking just a bit. I didn't want her to think I was going to attack her, but I didn't want her to think I was just some person, either. It was best to keep a relatively neutral if not helpful atmosphere with her when she was in warrior mode.

"Then how could you possibly know who I am?" she was a quick one to catch the train, now wasn't she?

"Because I'm not from this reality either." I said it simply, hoping she would believe me. But then, with everything she had already gone through, I had a feeling it wouldn't be too hard to convince her.

"Fine. What am I supposed to do now?" she asked, finally deciding to lower her gun. Oddly enough, I had only just realized she never even powered up her cannon. A good sign.

"If you'd like, you can join my crew. It's full of others like us." I raised an eyebrow and gestured to the Oblivion. She took a good look at it before turning back to me thoughtfully. Then, she shrugged slightly and sighed.

"Why not?" she said. I could hear the smile in her voice, as if she was excited to have such an opportunity. Or maybe I was just crazy… oh well.

At that, I lead the way into the airlock of the ship. The kids stuck by my legs the whole time as I gave Samus a tour. She had asked what I was doing with a bunch of children, and, as a reply, the twins harmoniously stated that I was the kids' mom. At the answer, she just looked at me with something akin to confusion, but smiled in return.

After about an hour and a half, we were finished with the tour and I had briefed her on the Mass Effect universe. I told her about the various species and such, making sure to ask her how she had gotten here. She just said that she had just encountered Ripley again, and was about to do battle with it, but then there was a light and that next thing she knew, she was on top of me. I'd mentioned that that had hurt, too.

"Alright, I think I'm good now. Honestly, I'm not even sure I want to go back. Even if I could, there's not really anything there for me, you know?" she said, smiling. I nodded and led the way to the mess hall.

"Then I'd like your help." I said, stopping at the entrance of the room. She looked at me questioningly and raised an eyebrow.

"With what?" she asked.

"With saving this entire damn galaxy from being overrun by a race of giant sentient killing machines who are bent on the absolute destruction of every living being." I took a breath when I finished, noting Samus' wide-eyed expression.

"And I thought the Pirates were bad." she said, chuckling.

We entered the mess hall then and I realized that everyone was there. Of course, the kids were still by my legs. Surprisingly, they had already gotten used to Samus, saying she was a nice lady. Both of us had laughed at the statement.

"Hey! We were beginning to think you got kidnapped again!" Emile laughed out. Everyone joined in and decided to make mocking remarks as Samus and I made our way to the front of the room.

"Yeah, I wasn't in the mood to go running after you again!" Jun chuckled, fist bumping Emile.

"I still need to make another damn tracker too." Kat said, playfully glaring at me. Well, I hoped it was playful, anyway.

"I almost thought that annoying reporter got you!" Carter called.

"You didn't go off with another stranger, did you?" Alexis teased.

"Any insane scientists?" Jorge chuckled, crossing his arms.

"Or more orphans?" Ankou said, earning a punch from the twins.

"I see we have another stray too!" Morena snickered, leaning back in her chair.

All the while, Samus just looked around confusedly. It was actually funny to look at, but when Ankou and Morena mentioned orphans and strays, she tensed up. Only a tad, though. I remembered she was just such a thing, so it was understandable.

"Yeah, yeah, real funny guys. Hilarious." I drawled sarcastically, only eliciting another round of laughter from my teammates. Yoda was just sitting calmly as usual, simply watching. I saw Tana's avatar floating around the room, evidently seeing what would happen. Maybe she was more curious as to the reason of Samus' arrival.

"Anyway, I'd like you all to meet a friend of mine." I said, gesturing to Samus. She simply nodded to everyone, and since she was in her armor, it was hard to see anything anyway. Everyone looked at her for a moment before saying anything.

"So, what's her name?" Carter asked, looking at me seriously again.

"Samus!" Morena exclaimed, finally recognizing the well-known hunter. She immediately stood up and opted to gape in shock, causing Samus to shift a little. She looked at me, then to Samus, then back again.

"Where did you find her?" Morena asked, getting looks of confusion from Noble and Yoda. Ankou knew who she was too, but didn't say anything. He had always said Samus was hot, but rarely played the games. Even so, I've been noticing that he hung out with Alexis much more often. I wasn't sure if it was coincidence or not, but Ankou's been in a good mood the past few days.

"Well, when the kids and I got onto the docks, Samus here popped up." I said, deciding to grab some food. The kids and Samus sat at a table while I got food for them.

"So what's the deal?" Alexis asked, fiddling with her tray of food.

"I've decided to join Crusnik." Samus announced, before I could say anything. I finished with the trays and brought them over to the table. I set one down in front of everyone, and gave Vera a nice, high-quality paste. I then sat down and started to eat too, since I was practically starving. Samus took off her helmet, Letting her long, pulled back blond hair fall out. She and the kids then started to eat as I was.

"Cool." Morena muttered, sitting back down.

"What are the current plans, Cru?" Jorge asked. I looked up from my food and furrowed my brows in thought. After a moment of thinking, I came up with something.

"I think we should look to building an actual crew. You know, the non-ground team people who keep the ship working." I suggested, blowing a bang out of my hair.

"But where are we going to find enough people to work the Oblivion?" Jun asked, taking a bite of his own food.

"I know where we can find a pilot." Tana piped up, floating over to me. I looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

"What's the dossier?" I asked.

"She was the top of her class in Alliance Flight School, broke almost every previous record and was known as the Viper pilot of the fleet. She's a legend in the Alliance, Crusnik." when she finished, I thought this news was too good to be true. But how were we supposed to get her to fly the Oblivion? Was she still in the Alliance?

"Why would she join us?" Carter asked.

" 'Cause she left the Alliance about a year ago, saying the Alliance didn't have 'ships her level'. No one's heard from her since." Tana answered, sounding conspiratorial.

"Again, why would she join us?" Carter said again, furrowing his brows together.

"And if she's disappeared, how are we supposed to find her in the first place?" Ankou wondered.

"Well, the last place she was seen was a planet not far from here. If we're looking for a pilot, she's the best we can find." she finished, circling around our tables.

I wasn't sure if we could find Viper, but even so. If we did, she might not want anything to do with us. Then again, if she saw the Oblivion, I had a feeling she'd at least consider it.

"Set a course, Tana. I have a feeling she'll be there." I announced.

"Wait, Crusnik." she said, sounding annoyed all of a sudden. I looked at her questioningly.

"What?"

"There's someone demanding entry outside the airlock. She says she want to speak to you." Tana said, irritation dripping from her tone. I left the mess hall and entered the elevator. I pushed the button for deck two.

"Who is it?" I asked, as the elevator started it's ascent. Tana had followed me, so her avatar was right beside me.

"She says she's getting impatient. Odd. I haven't heard of that being a name." she said, making me chuckle at her sarcasm. Leave it to Tana to be a smart-ass just like me.

The elevator finally reached deck two and I stepped out with Tana behind me. Once I got to the airlock, she blinked out, saying it would be best if no one saw her. I agreed, then asked her to open the doors. After a short moment, I heard the doors open, close, then start the decon. cycle on the other side. It was a good minute before the inner airlock doors opened, allowing the visitor entry.

"Cru!" Vira stood there, looking a little out of breath. I looked at her for a moment before sighing. What was she doing here? I wondered if she was planning on beating me to a pulp now, since she looked like she thought it may have been a good idea.

"Yes?" I inquired.

"I coming with you!" she declared, poking me again. It hurt, but it made me think it was some kind of habit when she was angry.

"Why?" I questioned, standing still.

"Because you're hopeless without me there to look out for you!" she certainly seemed sold on the idea, but I felt like that was only a half-truth. Then again, it was an obvious fact that I could handle myself just fine.

"Don't you have some mission from the council to go on?" at the question, she glared at me and poked me again.

"Don't start! I'm here and there's no way I'm letting you go skipping around the galaxy without some backup!" as she spoke, I remembered that she had no idea who I already had with me. Sure, she saw Noble, but I feel like she was too enraged at the time to even notice anyone other than me, Ankou and Morena.

"Fine." I lead the way back to the elevator and the two of us made our way back down to deck three. It was a pointed silence the whole way down. The doors opened once more and I brought the two of us to the mess hall. This was making me feel like some sort of chauffer, taking people throughout the ship.

We entered the room to see everyone was eating happily and talking amongst themselves. It was a nicely relaxing atmosphere, but all of us knew we'd rather be off fighting something than hanging around, waiting for cabin fever to set in. they all looked up as we entered, and Ankou greeted Vira as Morena stayed quiet. It may have just been me, but it seemed my good friend was still hurting a little at Vira's earlier anger. It may have been justified, but Morena had always been a tad sensitive when it came to personal matters.

"Everyone, I'd like you to meet Vira. She's the one who took the three of us in after we first woke up here." I said, getting their attention.

"Ah, so it's her fault you keep taking in strays?" Emile called, grinning widely. I glared at him, sending everyone into fits of laughter. Vira looked at me and then to everyone else as if to say 'there's something wrong with them.'. personally, I thought there was something wrong with all of us. But then, our flaws were what made us who we were. I'd rather have been considered crazy than normal. It was more fun that way.

"She'll be with us from now on, so behave." I said finally, getting small snickers from a few people. I gave Vira my seat, got her food, then excused myself. I needed to think. Crowds weren't my thing, noise wasn't my thing. I made my way to Tana's core room to ensure privacy and sat down. The hum of the smaller core was comforting in a way. I closed my eyes and started to meditate.

…

_Great. I'm in this place again. I wondered around for awhile, but soon stopped. It was the same place I came to the first time I met Limbo. At least it was better than having that nightmare again._

"_Crusnik…" well, speak of the devil._

"_Why are all of these people coming from nowhere? Are you doing this?" I asked, looking around._

"_They were chosen to help you." Limbo said, sounding all-knowing as usual._

"_Why?"_

"_To…represent their pasts." awesome. Another cryptic answer._

"_You mean, represent their realities? Why would they need to do that?"_

"_They have seen you. When you arrived, you opened doors long thought closed." it intoned._

"_The Reapers saw me and Ankou come to this reality?" I asked. All these questions made me feel stupid, but I wanted answers._

"_Yes. They work to harness the powers you have."_

"_The Force?"_

"_No. Your people were Creators."_

"_Creators? Of what?" again, I felt the tug on my gut. It pulled me from the place quickly before I could say anything more._

"Crusnik?" I looked up and saw Tana hovering by me. I felt a little groggy, but nothing big.

"Something wrong?" I asked. She sounded a little worried.

"Are you okay?" she asked. I smiled at her and poke the sphere, making her giggle uncontrollably.

"I'm fin-" suddenly, pain burst through my skull, making me grunt. It pounded on my brain, sending me to the ground.

_Visions, memories flashed through my mind. I see trees and people looking down at me, talking to each other. They say I and my brother are the only ones strong enough left. The chosen warriors to be sent far away. _

_A woman comes into my sight then, looking sad. She looks down at me and my brother as we stand in a drawn circle on the ground. She comes and kisses our foreheads, saying silent prayers for our safety. I cry silently with my brother, with my mother. We say goodbye for the last time._

The pain finally ceased. My eyes cleared out, showing a ceiling instead of trees. I was in the core room…

"Crusnik! What happened?" Tana floated to me hurriedly and settled down beside me. Her tone was rushed and definitely concerned. I slowly sat back up and blinked several times, focusing my vision.

"I remember…" I said, more to myself than anyone.

"You remember what?" she asked, hovering into my line of sight.

"My name…" I was so out of it, I barely registered that she had asked me anything.

"You're Crusnik…" she sounded so confused, I looked at her directly, trying to keep from spacing.

"My real name. It's… Laenaya." I stared at my hand, unblinking. I finally remembered my real name. the one my mother gave to me. I remembered that place and saying goodbye, but not much more. There were more memories, but they were too blurry for me to get anything from them. Maybe, in time, I could recall more.

"Real name? The one you forgot?" I nodded at her question, but stayed quiet. Back then… I could feel something. I was sad to leave, but I felt I had a calling. I felt I needed to carry out my duty to my people. But what was it? They must've sent me and Ankou away for a reason.

"I feel like I should know something, but I can't remember." I muttered, closing my hand into a loose fist.

"Let's not rush it, Cru." I finally looked at Tana. It was the first time she'd called me with the nickname everyone's given me. But I liked it.

"Yeah." I smiled at her and stood slowly, testing my stability. I felt fine, so I made my way to the cockpit and checked our course. Apparently, we had arrived at the planet already. I wondered how long I was MIA, but it didn't really matter too much. I had gotten sleep and some answers, so that was enough for me to recharge, so to speak.

"Tana, tell everyone to suit up, we're going in." I said, already heading to the armory and getting my own armor on. No one had recognized the design so far, and I wondered if Limbo had something to do with it. I didn't recognize it as any type from any of the games I'd played, Mass Effect included. Another odd thing about it though, was that it fit perfectly to my body, as if it was made for me.

…

"So, how long have we been searching?" Ankou asked. He had told me back on the ship that he had a similar flashback to mine, and visions of seeing Limbo. I remembered his real name was Andric, but the both of us decided to keep it on the DL, just in case. We agreed it was also easier if everyone just kept calling us by our codenames, instead of switching up on them.

In any case, we had already landed on the colony Tana told us about that should've had at least something on Viper. So far though, we haven't found anything. All of us had spit up to cover more ground, too, since the sight of a bunch of highly armed soldiers would scare everyone away. Yoda decided to stay on the Oblivion again, citing old age as a bad thing to travel with. We also left the kids with him, since it would be stupid to carry kids around everywhere we went.

"About two hours." Morena said, looking at her Omni-tool. Ankou sighed and slumped his shoulders a little.

"It's alright, bro. We'll find Viper soon." I assured him, giving him a pat on the shoulder. He just grunted and continued walking. Oddly enough though, this colony was quiet. There wasn't anyone in sight and the only sounds were our footfalls on the dirt path. I had a bad feeling at the situation, but paid it no mind until we actually hit ground. The place looked like any normal colony, but the population was nonexistent.

A few minutes later, I heard a bang and then a crash inside one of the houses. The three of us exchanged glances, and went to investigate.

"Teams two and three, we think we found something. Moving to investigate." Morena said through the comm, getting affirmations from the other teams. Emile, Carter, Vira and Kat made team two, while Samus, Jorge, Jun and Alexis made team three.

"Anyone want to guess what that was?" Ankou inquired, looking ready for a fight. I shrugged and moved through the door into the house. It was a simple place with the necessities, but nothing that screamed poor. We split up, me taking the ground floor, Ankou taking upstairs and Morena taking the other side of the house on the ground level.

A few seconds of searching later, I came across a hunched figure hiding in the closet. I called my companions over and squinted to see better. The lighting in the house was off, so I couldn't make anything out in detail.

"Come out, I'm not going to hurt you." I spoke softly to the being as Ankou and Morena joined me. It hesitated for a moment, as if weighing it's options, then slowly scooted forward, out of the closet. Morena turned on the light so we could see. I could see the hunched figure was a Salarian. He looked terrified of something, but I couldn't tell what.

"What's wrong? Where is everyone?" Ankou questioned, making the Salarian jump a little.

"T-they were all t-taken…" he said. I could see him trembling all over, most likely traumatized.

"By who?" Morena asked, before I could say anything. He looked up at us as if just realizing we were there, and clasped his hands together.

"B-by the slavers. B-batarians came and took them all t-to the main building." he must've been talking about the large building down the road. It seemed to be the main head of operations for the colony and such, keeping it running.

"Do you know if a woman named Viper lives here?" I wondered aloud, catching the Salarian's attention.

"Y-yes, she goes to the bar occasionally." he answered. At least there was some good news in all this. I exited the building after telling the Salarian to keep low and started for the building.

"We got a situation, everyone." I said, talking over our comm line.

"What is it?" Carter asked, sounding bored. I could relate.

"Slavers have the colony up at the main building." I said. I could hear the sighs over the comm, but said nothing. Slavers weren't exactly our favorite people in the galaxy. Actually, they were on our Hate List. Right along with Kalisah and Thresher Maws.

"Then let's not waste any time." Samus said, sounding excited. At least we'd finally get to fight something for once.

**A/N: Sorry for cutting it short you guys, but I want to get a really good fight scene down. Anyway, review and tell me what you think!**


End file.
